Duo is sick
by Melara Yuhi
Summary: Duo is seriously ill, but refuses to admit it. The other pilots catch on too late, and he is thrown into a vegetable like state. A small girl named Kate, and Quatre's overacting Kokoro no Uuchu may be the only things that can save him. Complete
1. Chapter 1

Melara: So, this is the beginning to a fic that I've had a middle for for quite some time now…

Melara: So, this is the beginning to a fic that I've had a middle for for quite some time now…

Tsuru: Why do you do that anyway?

Melara: Huh? Do what?

Tsuru: Write the middle before you write the beginning?

Melara: It makes for a better plot. At the beginning of the story, I already know where I'm going with it, so I can just set things up and move on, with no awkward beating around the bush…

Tsuru: Then why do you talk before the story?

Melara: Mindless jabber is a fun way to torture the reader…

Tsuru: Will you just get the Legal stuff over with so I can laugh at this story?

Melara: it's Legal _crap_, Tsuru. Legal _crap_…

Legal crap: *humming a song to self* Mmmmm…. Huh? What? Ack! Don't sneak up on me like that!!! No! I don't own Gundam Wing, now go away!!! *goes back to humming* Mmmm… Ack! You're still here!!! Fine then. I don't own Gundam Wing, and I make no money from my damn writing habits. I have no money at all. There! Are you happy now!!!

Tsuru: o.O That was… odd…

Melara: Um… Let's move on, shall we?

Tsuru: Good idea. Wait. Have you finished your summer reading yet?

Melara: Uh… no… not really…

Tsuru: what happens if your dad catches you writing Fanfictions?

Melara: Then I die. It's as simple as that.

Tsuru: Right, let's do the warnings.

Warning: I would just like to make one thing clear. If you believe this story to be Yaoi, and like it like that, then good for you. Don't let me spoil your fun. But if you will turn down my fic, because it appears to be Yaoi, then will you at least read this first? I am not trying to make fools out of the characters. I am not trying to make some twisted freak out of any of them. It _is _possible for love to exist between two guys that are completely straight. When people share extreme experiences like the gundam pilots have, they grow a bond with each other which is very close to family. Because of this, a guy _can_ love another guy as if they were brothers. Thank you for listening to my lame babble. And for those of you that didn't, I can't do anything about it because you weren't reading, now can I?

Tsuru: What in the world caused you to say that?

Melara: I was trying to figure out why non-lemon yaoi stories about the gundam pilots didn't bug me, but when I read one of Relena/Noin, (don't ask me how that combo got started, it just did) I thought it was sick. This was the lame excuse for an answer that I came up with.

Tsuru: O.o Riiight. Let's move on now.

Melara: um… Tsuru?

Tsuru: What!?!?

Melara: Uh… I don't have a title yet…

Tsuru: Then make one up!!!

Melara: Oh, alright… How about 'Damn stubborn pilots'

Tsuru: No curse words.

Melara: Um… then, how about…

Tsuru: Just call it 'Duo is sick' That's what you saved it as.

Melara: But that's lame!

Tsuru: Would you nice people read this fic, and then come up with a new title and put it in your review?

Melara: It would make me very happy! ^____^

Tsuru: *slaps Melara* Just write the damn thing!

**__**

Chapter one

It was 2:00 in the morning, and Heero was just about to turn in, when a message popped up on his laptop. 'You have a new mission. Bring all of the pilots over tomorrow at 5:15 a.m. to receive the details.' Heero sighed. He hoped that he wasn't going to be the one to wake Duo up. That was always a dangerous job. Heero deleted the message and turned his laptop off, then climbed into bed.

Duo woke up with a start. Heero had just walked into his room, the creek of his footsteps had woken him up. Duo was surprised, because he was normally a very heavy sleeper. Duo grimaced and looked at the clock. It was 4:35, definitely too early to be awake.

"Come back in 3 hours, and I'll let you live." Heero's eyes hinted a smile, and slight annoyance, but only someone who was willing to pay attention to that would have noticed. Heero kept his emotions well hidden, most of the time.

"Get up, we have to pay a visit to the doctors."

"At 4:35 in the morning?"

"No, we have to be there at 5:15, but you need to be awake by then." Duo looked at Heero. He probably went to bed at 2:00 again, meaning that he only got 2 ½ hours of sleep. Even the perfect soldier needed more than that. Duo was in no place to complain, he had gone to bed at 7:15 last night. He hadn't been feeling well, but he figured it was just a cold.

"Alright. Now that you woke me up, I won't be able to get back to sleep anyway. But Quatre better have a good breakfast down there for me!" Heero turned around and walked off, silently laughing to himself about Duo's hopeless sleeping habits.

"Why are they making us do this so early? They're being more careful about this than usual," Quatre wondered as he cooked a few eggs. Trowa started to make coffee, then pulled out five mugs. "Did Wufei ever come back last night?"

"No." Heero said. Trowa stopped to put a mug away, then continued to make himself useful. Wufei had gone out the night before after Duo had gotten on his nerves. He said that he needed some fresh air, and stormed into the wooded area near the safe house. Though it was normal for him to walk out in the middle of the night, he was usually back the next morning.

"Do you think he might have something to do with the mission?" Duo walked down the steps, braiding the end of his long chestnut hair.

"Hn…" Heero had been thinking the same thing. What if he had been caught? What if their next mission was to kill him?

_'Then you will kill him. You will follow the mission.'_

_'But he's one of us! A Gundam pilot! My friend…'_ Heero had found the root of his problem. He had let himself get too close to someone. It would interfere with future missions. He couldn't let his emotions get in the way of the mission, even if it meant killing his friend.

"Okay, breakfast is served." Quatre dished out scrambled eggs to everyone at the table, giving everyone more than usual because he had cooked one for Wufei.

"Good! I'm starving!" Duo had a slight headache, and was feeling a little dizzy, but he still had to laugh and joke, so no one would think that something was wrong. Duo picked up a fork and took three bites, then stopped. He had barely eaten anything, but he felt full.

_'Must be this stupid cold. I'll eat the rest later, when I'm feeling better.'_

"Duo?" Heero asked in his monotone voice. Duo had been staring off into space, and didn't realize that the other pilots had already finished their eggs. "If we don't leave soon, we'll be late." Duo shoved another fork full in his mouth, and forced himself to swallow it. He began to feel sick to his stomach, so he didn't try to eat more.

"Are you alright?" Quatre asked, looking at Duo's full plate.

"I'm fine. I'll eat the rest when I can enjoy it." He shot a supposedly angry look at Heero, trying to make him laugh. Heero just grabbed a jacket and walked out the door.

__

'Why do you even try? You know you can't make Heero smile, let alone laugh.' Duo imagined what would happen if Heero made a joke. Duo would probably die from shock.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero lay on his bed, dazed. The mission hadn't been about Wufei. No one had heard from him since the night before, but he would turn up somewhere, he always did. Relena had been abducted by an unknown group on one of the colonies. They had to find her, bring her back alive, and stomp out this group before it becomes too powerful.

'What are they doing to her? Is she alright?'

'They wouldn't kill her. They just want power so they can spread their ideas. Besides, why do you care? She's just a girl.'

'She is just a girl, but she's also the mission. She needs to be brought back alive.'

'That's what you say, but it's not what you think…' Heero's thoughts were cut off when he saw Duo stumble past his door.

"Duo?" Duo looked over at Heero with bloodshot eyes. He forced a smile from his tired face.

"I'm just going to take a nap. If I'm not up in two hours, wake me up. Okay?" Heero nodded, and Duo continued to his room. Heero looked at the clock, it was 11:56, almost time for lunch. He stood up and walked into Duo's room, the door was wide open.

"Duo, have you had lunch…" Heero stopped when he saw Duo lying on his bed, face buried in the pillows, and feet hanging off the side of the bed. Heero sighed as he flipped the sleeping shinigami onto his back, and putting his feet on the bed.

'He's going to get back problems if he keeps sleeping like that.'

'But why do you care? Why does it matter so much to you that you'd go out of your way to fix it?'

'If he's complaining about the pains in his back, he'll become distracted from the mission.'

'Yes. But why do you care?'

'He'll endanger the mission'

'There's more to it than that…' Heero felt a warm breeze on his hand, and snapped himself out of his thoughts. He realized that he had sat down on the edge of Duo's bed. The warm breeze was Duo's breath on his hand. Heero got to his feet and left the room, hoping to get some information off his laptop as to where Relena was.

To be Continued…

Mel: ^___^ So, how was it? Do I have a good plot going? Or is it too early to tell?

Tsuru: I think that you should save this before your dad comes in.

Melara's evil father: What are you doing?

Mel: Uh, I was just brainstorming! But I'm done now, so I'm just going to save it and get something to eat…

Melara's evil father: Let me see… *looks at screen just long enough to see the word 'shinigami'* you were writing fanfictions again!

Mel: No! I was just looking at it!!! I had said something before that gave me an idea for my summer reading, so I went back to look for it!

Melara's evil father: *stares at Melara* alright. Save what you have and get your snack. Then I want you to go to bed. *leaves the room*

Tsuru: Nice cover up.

Melara: Do you think he bought it?

Tsuru: Not a chance.

Melara: Damn.

Tsuru: will you end it now?

Melara: *gets zero-y look* Yes… end it all…

Tsuru: I meant the fic.

Melara: *stares at Tsuru's precious sword* End it all…

Tsuru: If you touch my sword, I'll make sure that you're still alive when I slice you up and feed you to my dogs.

Melara: *stares at keyboard*

Tsuru: Will you all please review so she won't get any more ideas?

Melara: ^___^ Reviews!!! Yayness!!!!

Tsuru: Well that didn't last long, did it?

Melara: Oh! Flames! Yay! Bring out the marshmallows!!!

Tsuru: o.O


	2. Chapter 2

Melara: Wowie

Melara: Wowie!!! I've already gotten 8 reviews! It's only been 24 hours since I tried to put it up there!!! All of the reviews were from people that I don't know!!! This is too cool!

Tsuru: What are you getting at?

Melara: I'm going to write more now!!!!

Tsuru: But you just posted the first part yesterday…

Melara: That's okay. I probably won't get this up till later anyway. I'm starting to get tired…

Tsuru: You woke up at 12:35 so you could write fanfictions, and go on the internet. This is the second night in a row. How long do you think you can keep this up?

Melara: Um… not too long. I might not wake up early tomorrow…

Tsuru: I meant that your evil father might catch you

Melara: Well, you only live once…

Tsuru: I think the two people who were nice enough to review this for you would appreciate it if you would live long enough to finish this fic.

Melara: good point. In that case, I'd better hurry up and write this.

Warnings: the same as last time, but incase you forgot, or you just like to see me torture myself by writing these things that no one ever reads, I'll type it again! (actually, I'll just cut and paste. Ha ha! I've foiled your evil plot!!!) *clears throat* I would just like to make one thing clear. If you believe this story to be Yaoi, and like it like that, then good for you. Don't let me spoil your fun. But if you will turn down my fic, because it appears to be Yaoi, then will you at least read this first? I am not trying to make fools out of the characters. I am not trying to make some twisted freak out of any of them. It _is _possible for love to exist between two guys that are completely straight. When people share extreme experiences like the gundam pilots have, they grow a bond with each other which is very close to family. Because of this, a guy _can_ love another guy as if they were brothers. Thank you for listening to my lame babble. And for those of you that didn't, I can't do anything about it because you weren't reading, now can I? *cough, gasp, cough*

Tsuru: that was still very odd.

Melara: I know. Now, on with the legal crap!!!!

Legal Crap: I do not own Gundam wing. I do not make any money from my fics. I am writing this for the soul purpose of pleasing everyone that read the first chapter, and yelled at me for stopping it there. (yes, that includes me.) I have no money. If you sue me, all you'll get out of it is $1.29. That is all I have. Don't waste your time.

Tsuru: Can we continue this now?

Melara: Good idea. Here's chapter 2!!!

**__**

Chapter two

Quatre had just finished putting together a leftovers soup with Trowa. They took the fried chicken, breaded onion, and roast beef that would go bad in the fridge if they didn't do something with it soon, and added some fresh vegetables. Trowa sat down to read a book while the soup cooled, and Quatre turned on the TV. 

"… The virus is not contagious, but if it isn't treated immediately, it could be life threatening. The virus is nearly impossible to identify until it reaches its final stage. It works by attacking the brain, and creates random illnesses there. Because it works inside the brain, normal treatment of the illness portrayed is ineffective…" the Television babbled mindlessly for a while, but when the soup cooled, Quatre turned it off.

"Lunch time" Quatre yelled. Trowa pulled out four bowls, as Wufei hadn't returned yet, and spooned out the soup. Quatre was surprised when he didn't hear Duo shooting down the steps. He had barely eaten any breakfast, and now hadn't come down for lunch. That wasn't like him at all. Duo was too concerned about his health to be missing meals like this.

"Duo is taking a nap. He'll be up in an hour." Heero walked down with his laptop. He wouldn't eat at all if he didn't think it would interrupt his performance. Trowa served the soup, and then sat down to eat.

"So, any idea where Relena is?" Quatre said, hoping to start a conversation. Heero just opened his laptop and continued to type. They ate in silence for a while, then Quatre tried again. "Any word from Wufei?" Heero didn't even look up from his laptop, and Trowa had started to read his book. Quatre was starting to think that he would never get a conversation going, and his last attempt was only half hearted. "How's the soup?" Heero stopped typing and stared at Quatre, making him feel very uncomfortable.

"It's very good." Heero finished off his soup and washed the bowl out, then put it away. Heero went back to typing, and Trowa got up to wash his bowl out. Heero looked at his computer, scanned the screen, and then scooted back in his chair.

"Did you find something?" Trowa asked.

"It found me…" Quatre looked over Heero's shoulder and read the e-mail on the screen.

"We have Relena Peacecraft with us. She will remain unharmed if our demands are met…" it continued with a list of outrageous and impossible demands, and finally, the colony responsible.

"When do we leave?" Quatre asked.

"In 3 hours. Trowa and Duo will be in gundams, I'm going in after Relena."

"What about me?"

"You stay here and wait for word from Wufei." Heero went back upstairs, leaving his precious laptop behind. Quatre was always left behind, for one reason or another. He was starting to wonder if he was any use at all to them.

"Duo?" Duo shivered, then woke up from his uneasy sleep. Heero was standing in the doorway with a bowl of hot soup. Duo sat up in bed, trying to forget about his damn headache.

"How long was I asleep?"

"About an hour and a half." Heero put the soup down on the desk next to Duo's bed. He rolled over and pulled the covers over his head.

"I told you to wake me up after _two_ hours." Heero yanked the covers off of the bed and thrust a spoon into Duo's hand

"We have a mission. Finish your nap later." Duo sat up and ate a few spoonfuls of the soup Quatre had made for lunch. Although the soup was hot, it made him feel very cold, and slightly lightheaded.

"You found Relena?" Duo decided to stop eating, as it was only making him feel worse.

"Sort of…" Duo stood up and stretched, popping his back loudly.

"So what are we waiting for? Lets go." Duo walked out the door, but stopped in the hallway.

'What's wrong with me? Why do I feel so drained?'

'You're sick, you idiot. That's what happens when people get sick. You need to rest.'

'It's just a cold. It will go away.'

'Then why are you on the floor?' Duo was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. He remembered that he had been going to do something important, and then had felt dizzy, so he leaned against the wall.

"Duo?" Duo looked over to see Heero kneeling down beside him. "You can stay back if you want, I was going to leave Quatre here to wait for Wufei anyway. I could take him and leave you here."

"Stay back?" Duo muttered to himself. He still couldn't remember what he had been doing.

'You should stay back, you need the rest.'

'Stay back from what? I can't remember'

'The mission, you idiot. The mission'

'I can't stay back. Besides, it's just a cold. It will go away.'

'You couldn't even remember what you were doing. What if you blank out like that in the gundam? You would be more of a danger than a help.'

"I'm not staying back" Duo said aloud. "You guys need my help." Heero stood up and walked out.

"You have two hours. Then we leave." Duo stood up and went down to the kitchen to find some aspirin. He would be fine as soon as he got his damn headache to go away.

There was obviously something wrong with Duo. He had barely touched his soup, and he hadn't eaten since breakfast. If he didn't get something to eat, his brain would crash, and he wouldn't be able to make decisions.

'Why do you care?'

'Stop asking that. Duo is a tool for the mission. If he isn't in good condition, he is not useful. It's as simple as that.'

'He isn't a tool. You know that. You care for him…' Heero cut his thoughts short and looked at what he was doing on his laptop. There was an article about a new strain of virus that attacked the brain. Heero read it over and over again, looking for something, but he didn't know what. He got to the bottom, where it should state the cause.

"…the virus is not contagious, and we do not know what causes it at this time." Heero book-marked the page, knowing that it would be updated soon. When it was, he would be back to check it again. He didn't know why, but he felt that this virus was very important, and shouldn't be over looked.

To be continued…

Tsuru: That was it?

Melara: um… yeah. I sort of got caught writing fanfictions yesterday, and this was all I had. Because my friend is over, I'm allowed to go online, so I'm just going to post what I have.

Kat: But you're going over to my house! You can write more there!

Melara: *whispers harshly to Kat* Hush!

Tsuru: o.O Oh, I get it. You don't know what to write next…

Melara: Um… yeah, so what?

Tsuru: they aren't going to like that…

Kat: who?

Melara: the reviewers…

Kat: oh, I wouldn't know. Nobody ever reviews my stories… *sniffles*

Melara: You never put any up…

Kat: That's not the point!

Melara: fine. If you put some up, I'll send my readers to go read yours!

Kat: *blinks twice*

Melara: never mind

Kat: NVM!!! It's nvm!!!!

Melara: why do I need to use shorthand in mindless jabber? I thought the point was to extend the fic…

Kat: You never learn…

Melara: right. Um… where did Tsuru go?

Tsuru: Die flesh-eating zombies!!! DIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Kat: O.o

Melara: she's discovered Resident Evil: Code Veronica

Kat: Oh.

Naki: Die evil blips!!! DIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Kat: O.O

Melara: She's been playing demon attacks on the Atari.

Kat: what's an Atari?

Melara: an _ancient_ video game system.

Tsuru: *puts game away* guns are evil. They run out of ammo. I'll stick with my sword, thank you.

Naki: #.# DIE EVIL BLIPS, DIIIEEE!!!!!

Melara: Review!!! Tell me what to do, because I have a feeling my muses won't be of any help!

Kat: No! you missed an opportunity to bug them with pathetic poetry!!!

Melara: And I think they would appreciate that.

Kat: *ignoring Melara* Review!!! Tell me what to do, because I have no clue!!! Mwa ha ha ha!!!!

Tsuru: o.O

Melara: O.O

Naki: #.# DIIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Melara: Yayness

Melara: Yayness!!!!!

Tsuru: What are you so happy about?

Melara: I've finished my damn summer reading project!!!!! FREE AT LAST!!!!!

Tsuru: o.O Riiiight. So, now you get to write more…

Melara: Um… yeah, but I have a problem…

Tsuru: And what might that be?

Melara: I can't figure out what to write…

Tsuru: Why don't you just go on to the mission. Duo and Trowa blow things up, and Heero just…

Melara: *clamping hand over Tsuru's mouth, which is difficult because Melara is so much shorter than Tsuru…* Shh! Don't tell them! I want what Heero does to be a surprise!!!!

Naki: *stops bouncing off the walls* So, if you know what they all do, what's the problem? *continues to bounce off walls*

Melara: *shrinks, puts hands in pockets* Well… I don't really know what Heavyarms and DeathscytheHell can do…

Tsuru: Melara!

Melara: Hey! It's not my fault! Cartoon Network took Gundam Wing off the air as soon as I got interested in it! I only got to see two whole episodes, and a few pieces of others… plus Endless Waltz… and the first two mangas… but I can only refer to the second one…

Tsuru: I get the picture! You can shut up now!!!

Melara: *pouts* But I still don't know what to write!!!

Tsuru: Just start writing the disclaimer, it will come to you…

Disclaimer: Huh? You want me to say it again? What makes you think I could suddenly become the owner of Gundam Wing in a matter of days? Things just don't work like that! (Lawyers: *frown and stare at the disclaimer*) Oh, so you want me to say it flat out… I DON'T OWN GUNDAM WING!!!!! There, are you happy? (Lawyers won't leave) What more do you want? I can't tell you who does own them, because I don't really know… Oh! *slaps forehead* I know what you want! No, I am not making any money from my fics. You can go home now… (lawyers _still_ won't leave) WHAT IN DUO'S NAME DO YOU WANT!!!!!! Lawyers: You have white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. We want some to. Melara: NO!!! MINE!!!! GO AWAY!!!! (lawyers pout, and sulk off) Well, that takes care of that! *eats another cookie* Yummy! My favorite!!!

Tsuru: Um… Yeah. You know, you are hypoglycemic, if you eat too many of those, you won't be able to think enough to write this fic…

Melara: *mouth full of cookie* Hmm? Just do the warnings.

Warnings: You _still_ want me to do this? I already told you what the deal is with anything that's seemingly yaoi, if you like it, good. If not, it isn't really there, so you don't have to worry about that. Um… Oh, right. There is one more warning that I need to add for this chapter, the gundam battles might be really lame, and Relena might be a little OOC. I haven't figured out how she ticks yet, so I'm not good at writing with her. (Mel: Yeah, you should use a pencil! Tsuru: o.O That was really lame. Mel: Hey, I try… Tsuru: Well stop it. Mel: *pouts*) Umm… yeah… I think that's all… I'm not sure… oh… right… this chapter should be very sad, and there may be a character death… maybe… not quite sure yet… Oh, I'm babbling, aren't I? Sorry, I'll shut up now.

Tsuru: Write the fic, Now.

Melara: But I don't know what to do!

Tsuru: Write it any way. You're a good author, you'll figure it out.

Melara: But I don't know what's going to happen next!

Tsuru: Yes you do. I know you do because you talk in your sleep. I heard the whole thing.

Melara: Then you write it!

Tsuru: Uh uh! No way! I am not going to be held responsible for what you do.

Melara: But I don't know how to word this!!!

Tsuru: You aren't getting anything done by sitting here talking to me. Start writing the fic.

Melara: But…

Tsuru: NOW!!!

**__**

Chapter three

Relena Peacecraft was lying down on a comfortable feather bed. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there, or why it hurt so much to open her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Relena groaned and turned her head toward the voice. It sounded like a little girl. Relena opened her eyes and found herself staring into a pair of bright green eyes.

"Who are you?" The little girl stepped back, and smiled at Relena. Her short blond hair bounced at her slightest movement, and her smile was radiating with the innocence of a child.

"My name is Kate. I'm really glad that you're alright. I was scared when daddy brought you in here. He wasn't treating you like he treats the other people he brings in here." Relena stared at the little girl. She still couldn't remember how she had gotten here. Relena tried to sit up, but stopped when she felt a horrible pain in her chest. Kate looked at Relena inquisitively, then frowned. "I knew daddy was hurting you, I knew it. He's supposed to help people, not hurt them…" A tear trickled down the girl's face. Relena smiled at her.

"It's alright. Don't cry." Relena winced as she pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the bed. Kate sat down next to her, and gave her a tentative hug, being careful not to hurt Relena.

"I'm sorry for what my daddy did to you. He normally isn't like this. I don't understand…" Relena picked Kate up and put the small child on her lap. Kate buried her face in Relena's chest and began to sob.

'It isn't right for such a small child to be exposed to war. No one should be forced to grow up.'

'But we've all been through the same thing. Why should this child have it any different?'

'She's just too young… We're all too young…' Relena wrapped her arms around Kate's tiny frame. She could feel every bone in her fragile body. She probably hadn't eaten in days.

'Where am I? In what place do people treat their children like this?' Kate stopped crying, and pulled away from Relena.

"Thank you." She said quietly, looking down at her feet. Relena saw a red substance on the girls arms, and then remembered the burning pain she felt in her chest. Kate looked up, then raced into another room. Relena just sat and stared at the door she had left through, wondering what the child was thinking. Relena laid back down on the bed, and crossed her arms on her chest. She felt something warm on her arms, and pulled them back. They were covered in the same red substance that was on Kate's arms. Relena was bleeding.

Kate rushed into the room, carrying a large white box. She sat down on the edge of the bed and opened it.

"Don't worry, this will sting a bit, but it will help in the long run…" Relena watched as Kate poured a white liquid onto a cloth, and then unbuttoned Relena's blouse. Kate lightly rubbed the cloth over the wound in Relena's chest, then began to bandage it tightly. "Sometimes people come for help while my daddy is out working, so he taught me how to do some of the simpler things." Relena looked at Kate and smiled.

"Thank you." Kate closed the box and slid it under the bed.

"What's your name?" Relena paused and looked at the child.

"My name is Relena." Kate looked up and smiled.

"That's a pretty name. I like it." She looked to the side and closed her eyes. "I was really worried about you. Daddy tied you to a chair, and let your head rest on your shoulder. He tied the ropes really tight, so I had to cut them off…" A tear slid down her face. "I just don't understand why he would do this to you… it just doesn't make sense…" Relena sat up and hugged the little girl.

"Lots of people do things that don't make sense. The important thing is that you do what you feel is right." Kate smiled at Relena, and pulled a necklace out of her pocket.

"This was my sister's. She died a few years ago from a fever…" Kate paused to wipe away a tear. "She told me the same thing before she died, after I asked her why a patient we had helped tried to cut daddy with a knife." Kate pushed the necklace into Relena's hands. It was a beautiful silver chain with a single piece of jade cut into the shape of a dolphin. "I want you to have this. You're the first person that could make me feel better since my sister died." Relena held the necklace in her hands, then accepted the gift.

"I'll take good care of it. Thank you." Kate looked up at Relena and smiled.

"Relena? Are we friends?"

"Of course we are." Kate looked out the window, and froze.

"Daddy, he's home. He's going to be mad at me…" A door slammed, and an angry voice filled the house.

"Kate! Get down here right now!" Kate shivered at the harshness of her father's voice.

"He's upset because I let you up, even after he told me not to…" Relena pulled the tiny child close to her. "Relena, I'm scared. Daddy never got mad at me like this before. I don't understand why he doesn't like you. You're a very nice person, so why does he want to hurt you?" Relena gave Kate an encouraging hug.

"I'll do everything I can to make sure you don't get hurt." Kate smiled and stood up.

"I'd better go to daddy. I'll bring you dinner later on." Relena looked at the child's skinny frame and wondered if she was going to have dinner. Kate put her hand on the doorknob just as it burst open, throwing her to the ground.

"Kate! What are you doing! Go to your room, now!" The man that walked into the room was tall, and even skinnier than Kate. He had tangled, greasy brown hair, and bright green eyes. He locked the door as soon as Kate left, then he sat down in a chair to face me.

"What is it you want?" Relena faced the man and treated him with more dignity than she thought he deserved.

"The others promised that you wouldn't be harmed as long as our demands were met." He clenched his fists so tightly that they went white. "Your kind never keeps the promises they make. We'll never have a decent place to live unless we take action." The man stood next to Relena now, staring her down. "You rich people never have to worry about the things we do. You don't know how hard it is to raise a child in a place like this. Some days there's no water, and others you're too scared to use it because of what might be in it…" Relena stared at the man. He had risked his life to make a point, and he had done it all for his daughter.

"But that is what I'm fighting for. That is what I'm trying to prevent from…" The man slapped Relena on the side of her face, knocking her head back with the force of the blow.

"Shut up. You always make empty promises. You can fool some people, but not me. I know that when this stupid was is over, we'll be in the same predicament that we are in now, and we always will be. You know why?" The man stared at Relena. The hate in his eyes had turned to sadness. "Because people with wealth don't want to give it up to help trash like me." The man walked out the door, and locked it behind him.

"I'm truly sorry. No one should be forced to go through this." Relena put her hand to her face, where she had been slapped. "I promise I'll fix things, even if I have to die doing it…"

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"How long does it take for this damn aspirin to kick in?" Duo's headache hadn't gone away yet, and his two hours were up. He and Heero were walking over to the place Duo had hidden DeathscytheHell. Heero was going to hitch a ride with Duo, then hop out and continue with his part of the mission. Duo's job was clear and simple, blow up anything that isn't friendly looking.

"Stop complaining. I asked you if you wanted to stay back." Duo shot Heero one of his panted grins.

"Do you honestly think I would have stayed back? I want to see the fire works! And I'm not talking about the MS I'm going to blow up either." Heero looked over at Duo, but didn't say anything. Duo didn't mind, because he had caught the glint of laughter in Heero's eyes that showed every so often. No one else managed to notice it, not even Relena. But it was there for those that were willing to look. "So, where are we going anyway?"

"Colony L2," Heero replied. Duo stopped dead.

'No, I don't want to go back there again. I can't go back there again…'

'There's no reason not to. It's probably different now anyway.' Duo closed his eyes and remembered the look on Solo's face when he had died, the cold pale look to his skin, the emptiness in his eyes. Those eyes had died before he spoke his last words.

'We'll always be together…'

"Duo?" Heero's monotone voice echoed through Duo's head. Duo ignored him and continued to walk, trying to escape the memories.

Heero watched as Duo walked ahead of him. 

'What happened to him? What made him stop?'

'And why do you care?'

'Will you quit asking me that!'

'Only if you answer…'

'I don't know! I don't understand! Leave me alone!' Heero walked faster to escape his mind, but to no avail.

'You have to separate yourself from him. You'll endanger the mission.' 

'All I have to do is help Relena, then we can leave.'

'You have to focus on the mission.'

'That's what I've been doing…'

'No, you've been too busy worrying about Wufei, Duo and Relena…'

"We're here!" Duo pulled a Vanna White on Heero, showing off his gundam.

"Hn…" Heero walked past Duo and waited for the cockpit to open. Duo punched in the code to open his metal friend, and the two pilots jumped in.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Relena woke from her troubled sleep when she heard a scratching on the door to her room. It was the sound of metal scraping against metal, then a slight click. Kate walked into the room holding a small bowl of tomato soup.

"I brought you something to eat, I hope you like it." Relena smiled as the small child handed her the bowl.

"Thank you very much." She took a sip of the soup. It tasted like warm, watery katsoup, but it had a pleasant sweetness to it. "Have you eaten yet?" The small child shook her head, and sat down on the bed next to Relena.

"Don't worry about me. You lost a lot of blood, and you need food to help regain your strength." Kate pulled out a small piece of stale bread from her pocket, and began to nibble on it. Relena decided that the child would stand her ground, and would insist that Relena eat her soup, so she gave up on the argument. Drinking the rest of her soup, Relena began to realize what the scratching noise from the door was.

"You picked the lock, didn't you?" Kate looked up at Relena and frowned.

"I had to. Daddy left the house without feeding you, so I had to do it…" Kate paused and tilted her head, as if she were listening to something.

"What is it?

"Daddy is talking to that man again…" Her young face seemed to grow old and tired. "The man from OZ. They want you, but daddy won't tell them where you are. He's trying to make a deal with them…" Relena strained to hear the voices, but failed.

"I don't here anyone…" Kate looked up at Relena and gave her a tired smile.

"That's alright, they aren't in the house. Daddy is too smart to lead them to where he lives. He's meeting them in their home…" Kate stared into Relena's eyes. "You don't believe me, do you?" Relena didn't answer the question. "That's alright, no one ever does…" Relena pulled the child close to her.

"If you _can_ hear them, then your father is in trouble. We all are…" Kate buried her head in Relena's chest.

"I'm scared, Relena. I don't want to loose him…" Relena stroked the child's soft blond hair, wishing that she could say something to comfort the child, but knowing that if she did, it would all be a lie. Everything was a lie. "They took away mommy, and they wouldn't help my sister like they promised…" Kate looked up at Relena again. "Promise me that you won't leave, please?"

"I promise. I won't let anything happen to you, and I'll do what I can to help your father." Kate smiled and closed her eyes.

"Thank you…" Kate's arms went limp, then she slumped over a very startled Relena.

"Kate?" Relena roughly shook the child, trying to wake her. "Kate?" She didn't move. Relena grabbed Kate's wrist and felt for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak and uneven. Her skin was pale and clammy. "Please Kate, please wake up." Relena placed the unconscious child under the covers to her bed, then stood up to find help.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Luke raced home, his bloody feet pounding on the metal ground that used to be covered with artificial soil. He had tried to make a bargain with an OZ soldier. His daughter, Kate, was a diabetic, and he was too poor to afford the proper medication to treat it. He decided that he might be able to get some from OZ if he told them that he knew where Relena was being held. They had tried to beat the information out of him, but he wouldn't tell them anything, for fear of what might become of his precious Kate. He had stolen a chocolate bar as he tried to escape. It would be useful in raising the child's blood sugar level. He had managed to get his hands on some honey, and was using it to sweeten some of her meals. Now, all he wanted to do was get home before the OZ soldiers found out where he lived.

He stopped dead in front of his house. Relena Peacecraft was standing in the doorway, with a panicked look on her face.

"Kate passed out. You have to help her! Hurry!" Relena ran over to him and grabbed his arm, then pulled him through the house and up to the room that Luke had locked her in earlier.

'The honey should have prevented this, it should have been enough to keep her from passing out…' Luke pulled the chocolate bar out of his pocket and broke a piece off.

"Sir?" Relena placed a worried hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Her blood sugar is too low, that's why she passed out." He gently put the chocolate into the girl's mouth, and waited for it to melt.

"You're bleeding." Luke remembered the gash on the side of his chest, courtesy of a poorly aimed bullet.

"I'll be fine," Luke replied gruffly, putting another piece if chocolate into Kate's mouth. Relena pulled the white case out from under her bed and took out the cloth and soap.

"That's exactly what Kate said." Luke jerked back when he felt the cold cloth touch his chest as Relena cleaned the wound. Luke decided to save the rest of the chocolate for later, and turned to face Relena.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you pretending to care?" Relena shook the rude comment off and proceeded to bandage the wound.

"I promised Kate that I wouldn't leave her, and that I would protect both her and you as well as I could." Luke paused and stared at his daughter.

"I did it for her…" Relena sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed Kate's blond bangs out of her eyes.

"She's a beautiful girl. You've done a wonderful job bringing her up in this horrible world."

"I thought I could get help from OZ. I thought I could bargain with them…"

"I thought you would have known that they would only double cross you." Luke watched as Kate stirred slightly on the bed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put you through this…" As Luke said this, he realized that he was talking to both Relena and Kate. Relena stood up and gave Luke a friendly hug.

"She's asleep now, we should leave." And with that, the two walked out of the room. As the door closed, Kate opened her eyes and smiled.

"I knew she was a good friend…" She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, but in her mind, she was listening to the MS that were fighting outside the colony, fighting for possession of her friend.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Heero! How the hell did a group on L2 get a hold of so many leos?" Duo sliced another MS in two, then swerved through the others. He needed to get Heero onto the colony before he started to fight.

"They didn't" Heero answered simply. "These are straight from OZ. They must have found out that Relena was here…" Duo looked back at Heero and gave him a goofy grin.

"Looks like you'll have some competition down there. I'll just have to wait till you two get home to see the fire works…" Heero grabbed Duo's hand and shoved the control to the right, narrowly missing a cheep shot from one of the MS.

"Keep your eyes on those leos, and out of my room." Duo was shocked. Was that humor he heard? Had Heero actually made a joke? Duo grinned again and sliced into another leo. "I'm dead serious this time. I saw what you did to my laptop." Duo was now in deep shit. He hadn't thought the annoying little virus he had planted in Heero's computer could be traced back to him. He had set the computer up to crash every time Heero typed Relena twice in succession. He didn't think that Heero ever did stuff like that, but he was obviously wrong.

"Duo, behind you." Trowa pulled Duo out of his daydreams and back into space. There was a nasty looking MS with a beam cannon behind Duo, and he was charging it up.

"Great. Where did this guy come from?" Duo muttered as he shot out of the way. The beam shot past Duo and disintegrated at least eight leos that had tried to attack Duo from the front. "Hey, thanks!"

"Duo, if you can't pay attention, get out of that seat and let me pilot." Duo frowned.

"Hey, I'm doing just fine. You just do your job and save Relena." Duo had finally made it to the colony and landed. Heero leaped out of the cockpit and landed gracefully on his feet. After he had gotten a fair distance away from DeathscytheHell, Duo went back up to help Trowa, trying to get his headache to subside.

"Duo, you take those twelve and I'll get the others." Trowa had decided to take on eighteen MS at a time, but had left Duo with the bearer of the beam cannon. There were now two of them.

"How many have you gotten rid of so far?" Duo sliced through another leo.

"About twenty eight, but every time I kill two, another comes in." Trowa disabled a leo by blowing off both its arms and one leg.

"Well, that's not so bad. They could be sending in more than we kill…" Duo stopped in mid sentence as he watched a fleet of about eighty MD headed straight for him. "Shit, I just had to say something, didn't I?" Trowa, who had easily finished his leos, decided to come over and help.

'Wish Heero could help, he could get rid of these things in two minutes.' Duo lost himself in the battle. He seemed to be watching himself fighting, and had no say in what was being done.

"Duo, are you alright?" Trowa sounded slightly concerned, but that just might have been because if Duo weren't helping, Trowa would have to take on these things on his own.

"I'm just fine." Duo answered.

'Yeah, fine for a day in hell…'

'They're all in hell. This is worse' Duo's reflexes were slowing. He was almost impaled by a piece of scrap metal from an MD that had just recently exploded.

"Are there any more coming?" Duo asked. He was tired and his vision was blurring. He didn't know how much longer he could keep fighting.

"Yes, but only five."

"Five what?"

"MS" Trowa was trying to hide something from Duo. "Don't worry about them, I'll take care of it. You just finish the ten you have on your hands." Duo had ten MD around him, but there was also the MS with a beam cannon, he had never gotten rid of that, it had just disappeared. 

"Don't fool with me Trowa. Five what?" Trowa sighed.

"Don't worry about it. I can take care of them." Duo murdered two of the MD with a frustrated swing of his scythe, then blew up another three with his twin buster rifle.

"Five what, Trowa? Five what?" He turned to look for the MS Trowa had spotted. He couldn't see any of them, Trowa included. Static was the only thing coming from Heavyarms. Duo panicked. "Trowa! Where the hell are you?" An MD hit DeathscytheHell on the back, not doing any major damage. Duo spun around and impaled the offending MD with the wrong end of his scythe, then spun around again to look for Trowa. A large explosion rocked DeathscytheHell, and the bright light blinded Duo.

'If that was Trowa, I'm going to kill him!'

'You can't kill someone that's already dead…' Duo sped toward the explosion as fast as his gundam would allow. An MS arm drifted by the window. Duo immediately recognized it as part of Heavyarms.

"Shit! Trowa? Where the hell are you? Answer me, damn it! Answer me!" A tear slid down Duo's cheek. He knew that if that explosion had belonged to Heavyarms, there was no way Trowa could have survived. "Trowa…"

Duo was about to land to find Heero when he saw a white figure drift by. Duo opened the cockpit and brought it inside. It was Trowa.

"Trowa! What happened back there? Are you alright?" Trowa was conscious, and he didn't seem to be hurt too badly.

"I'm fine. Go find Heero. Make sure he's alright." Trowa leaned against the wall and clutched his side.

"But what about…"

"I said I was fine. Go." Duo reluctantly went back to his seat, and flew Deathscythe over to the colony. The landing was rough, and knocked Trowa off of his feet. Duo stumbled out of his gundam and left to look for Heero. His headache still hadn't gone away.

'Damn aspirin must have expired…' Duo walked past a street alley that seemed all too familiar. He leaned against the wall, trying to push aside the memories of Solo, and the destruction of Maxwell church. He closed his eyes and fell over, his head landing in a rare puddle of muddy water.

'Great' Duo thought to himself. 'I'm going to die in a three inch puddle of mud'

'Get up you idiot.'

'I'm too tired…'

'You just want to find some way to escape.'

'You've got that right.'

'Suicide is cowardly.'

'Go suck your dick…' Duo lost himself in the growing pain of his headache, which seemed to be spreading all over his body. He didn't know that while he was lying on the ground, Heero was fighting for his life…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero saw that one of the houses was surrounded by OZ soldiers. He figured that that was the house Relena was in. He moved quickly and silently around the house, looking for an opening. there was none.

'Then you'll just have to make one.' Heero shuddered at his thought. He was starting to sound like Duo, but he had the right idea. There was only one way to Relena, right through the soldiers. Heero pulled out his gun, but decided that if he used it, he would only attract attention to himself. He positioned himself so that the back door was right in front of him, then he bolted.

The soldiers were so surprised, that they didn't start shooting until Heero had made it to the door. He had almost made it in, when someone shot him in the side. Heero wasn't hurt badly, but the shock made him sink to his knees.

"Hold your fire!" Everyone stopped shooting at Heero. "Don't kill him yet, I want to have some fun with him." A long, pale face hung over Heero. Silvery blue eyes stared into Heero's, chilling him to the core.

Relena heard the shots outside and panicked.

"Heero!" Heero put his hand on the glass window as he tried to get up, but a soldier with long black hair punched him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. "Stop it!" A soldier inside the house hit Relena on the side of the head. Warm blood beaded at her temple, then trickled into her eyes.

"Stay quiet and I'll leave you alone." The soldier turned to face Luke, Relena had learned Kate's father's name while looking for someone to help Kate.

"There. You have her. Now give me the medicine." Luke held his hand out to the OZ soldier. The soldier slapped it out of the way.

"We had no deal. You came to steal supplies from us with the excuse that you had information for us." Luke went white.

"You promised. You told me that you would give me the insulin shots if I told you where Relena was!" Kate flew down the stairs, tears streaming down her face.

"Daddy!" she screamed. The OZ soldier turned his gun Luke, and shot him in the stomach. The bullet went right through him, and into the wall behind him.

"No!" Relena caught Luke as he fell to the floor, and cradled him in her arms.

"Why do you pretend to care?" His voice was quiet, but still clearly heard.

"She does care…" A tear slid down Relena's face as Kate hugged her father. "You should know that by now…"

"I'm sorry Kate. I'm sorry I can't help you, my little fallen angel…" Luke closed his eyes, and didn't open them again.

"Daddy…" Kate sniffed. Relena hugged the girl tightly, then glared at the OZ soldier.

"Why did you do that? It's bad enough we have to fight this horrid war, but why do we have to kill those that could be spared?" The soldier ignored Relena. He was staring at something in the doorway, his face pale, and his mouth hanging open.

"How… How did… did you do that?" Heero was in the doorway. His clothes were soaked with blood, and he had three holes in his shirt, three wounds in his stomach. Heero held his gun up to the man and prepared to shoot.

"Give her to me, and I might let you live." Relena looked out the door, and stared at an endless pile of dead soldiers. The soldier with the cold blue eyes crawled to his knees, his face now a bloody mess. The soldier in the room reached for his gun, but Heero shot him in the head before he could do anything. At the same instant Heero shot, the blue eyed man clicked the safety off of his gun. Heero didn't know that the man behind him was aiming at his head. Kate cried out as she watched the brains of the soldier splatter the wall behind him. Heero knelt down and held his hand out to the small child.

"Come with me." Something had replaced the normal cold edge to his voice, and it sounded warm, and sympathetic. Kate wrapped her tiny arms around Heero, and he lifted her off the ground.

"Rot in hell you monster…" The cold eyed man shot at Heero, and Relena threw herself in the way.

The gun fired before Heero had a chance to react. Relena pushed him off of his feet, and the bullet hit her in the chest, bursting her lung. Relena let out a ragged sigh of pain, and fell to the floor. The blue eyed soldier fell over. He had passed out from loss of blood.

"Relena…" Heero knelt down next to Relena.

"Heero, we're too young for this. I… I wish there was some way I could give you back your innocence… give you back your life…" Heero put the little girl down next to Relena.

"Relena, don't leave me." The blond girl crossed her legs and stared at the wound in her chest.

"Go with Heero, Kate. He'll take good care of you." Kate closed her eyes, but no tears came. When she opened her eyes again, she just stared straight ahead. Her green eyes were no longer bright, but cloudy and emotionless. Heero stared at Relena's tired face. He was too late. If he had come sooner, OZ wouldn't have been here, and he could have saved her. "Heero, I love you. I'm sorry I never got to tell you that…" Relena's head rolled to the side as Heero picked her up. "Take care of Kate…" Heero closed Relena's now dead eyes, and kissed her cold lips.

"Honto ni ai shiteru" Heero picked up Kate again and began to walk out. "I thought you knew…" 

Relena was dead. Dead like so many others she had loved. Kate decided that if she didn't care for anyone, then no one would die because of her. It was as simple as that. Kate pulled herself inside her own mind as she watched the house disappear in the distance. She could see a boy with long brown hair lying face down in a puddle of mud, but the image was only in her mind.

"He's going to drown…" she whispered. She was determined to find out where he was so she could help him.

"Who is?" Heero asked her. He turned so he could look into Kate's eyes.

"The boy in the alley, with the braid…" Heero went pale.

"Which alley. How do I get there?"

"Down the street, take a left, then a right. He's there…" Heero was already racing down the streets, following Kate's monotone directions. Kate noticed that her voice had no feeling to it, but decided that that was a good thing. If she showed no feeling, she wouldn't cause any pain.

Kate was right. Duo was lying in the middle of an alley, his face buried in a puddle of muddy water. Heero gently put the girl on the ground, and lifted Duo. His skin was white as a sheet, but his cheeks were bright red. Heero felt Duo's forehead. He obviously had a very high fever. Duo groaned as Heero tried to pick him up.

"Hey. You're alright…" Duo opened his eyes. They were bloodshot, and his pupils were too large for him to be able to see in this light.

"Don't talk." Heero easily picked up the skinny boy and hung him over his shoulder. Kate stared at the wall for a minute before she spoke.

"An older boy with green eyes and brown hair… do you know him?" Duo tried to lift his head, but failed.

"Trowa… he's still in DeathscytheHell… he's injured…" Kate began to walk out of the alley, but stopped.

"Are you coming?"

Heero followed the amazing little girl right to DeathscytheHell. Trowa was asleep inside. Kate was taking off Trowa's shirt when Heero walked in with Duo. Trowa's entire left side had turned an ugly black color. Kate pushed gently on his side and frowned.

"Serious internal bleeding… I don't know how to treat that…" Trowa groaned and opened his eyes.

"Is Duo alright?" Heero placed Duo down on the ground next to Trowa.

"He has a high fever, we need to get him back home." Heero sat down in Duo's seat, and felt badly. Sitting in the pilot seat of DeathscytheHell was like invading Duo's privacy.

"Where's Relena?" Trowa asked, dreading the worst.

"She died…" the blond girl replied. "…trying to save Heero…" Trowa looked at the girl for the first time. Her clothes were covered in blood, and her green eyes looked dead. The girl leaned against the wall and put her head on Trowa's shoulder. "She promised to help me… and she died…" Trowa gave the girl a rare smile.

"It wasn't your fault. You know that, right?" The girl looked stunned. Obviously, that was exactly what she had been thinking.

"No… I guess you're right…" A tear slid down her face. "But why did they have to kill her? Why do they have to kill anyone?" The girl hugged Trowa tightly.

"I don't know…" Trowa had begun to wonder why they were fighting in the first place, but this little girl gave him the answer. They were fighting so others wouldn't have to. So no one would have to go through what this little girl had. Trowa fell asleep again, stroking the little girls blond hair. She was so much like Quatre, another fallen angel caught in the middle of this horrid war.

To be continued…

Mel: Wowie!!! I messed this plot up pretty well!

*silence*

Mel: Umm… isn't anyone going to argue with me?

*silence*

Mel: Oh… right… Tsuru stormed out of the house last week with Tessae, and Naki got so upset that she went out to look for them… I'm all alone…

*silence*

Mel: *pouts* this isn't any fun… I need someone to argue with…

*silence*

Mel: You know, this silence thing is getting pretty old…

*people whisper to Mel*

Mel: Huh? *reads fic* Oh… yeah… I guess Trowa is a little OOC, isn't he?

*people whisper to Mel*

Mel: ^_^;; Well, when fanfiction.net shut down, I had nothing to do but write. Of course this is long.

*people whisper to Mel*

Mel: Now that was uncalled for! Apologize!!!

*people mutter apology, then leave*

Mel: No! Wait! Come back! I need someone to argue with!!! Gurg!!!!

Mouse on desk: …

Mel: *stares at mouse* right. I'm reduced to arguing with a mouse.

Mouse on desk: … *turns around to leave*

Mel: No! no, you're welcome here! Really! You are! *pulls out cheese pokey from pocket* hey, you want some cheese pokey? Heero wouldn't eat it… (refer to Gundam Pilots As Sims)

Mouse on desk: *eats cheese pokey*

Mel: um… what did you guys think? Did I kill the story? Was Kate a good addition?

Mouse on desk: …

Mel: Yeah, I know the pokey was a month old…

Mouse on desk: …

Mel: No! you've got it all wrong! It was aged to bring out the cheese flavor!

Mouse on desk: …

Mel: You ungrateful rat!

Mouse on desk: …

Mel: I don't care if you're an iguana! Get you're greedy but off my desk! *picks up mouse and throws it out the window*

Mouse out window: …!

Mel: Yeah, yeah. You and what army? *looks at people reading fic* Oh, right. Please review! As always, flames are welcome! ^____^

*things rustle outside door*

Mel: *ignoring noises* So, please tell me what you think. Tell me who seemed OOC and why so I can fix it. Thanks!

*thousands of mice burst in door*

Mouse from desk that was thrown out the window and is now back with reinforcements (Smeg! That's a long name!): …!

Mel: Oh… I see… that army… *gulps* um… Tsuru? Naki? Someone? Anyone? Help?

Relena: *poofs in, for some unknown reason*

Mel: *thinks* Anyone but her. Stupid God takes everything entirely too seriously…

Mice: *scatter in fear*

Mel: Uh… thanks… you can leave now…

Relena: You killed me!

Mel: Yeah… I thought it was an improvement…

*people whisper to Mel*

Mel: Huh? Oh, I thought she was talking about how I killed her personality…

*people whisper to Mel*

Mel: Yeah, that's right. If I killed Relena, why is she here? *Relena poofs out*

*people whisper to Mel*

Mel: That's enough out of you! Go away!

*people who whisper to Mel sulk and leave*

Mel: Yeah, so… if anyone sees my muses, could you tell me? I could really use their help… I'm not writing any more until I get some feedback… I need help… I know that they're going to get a big important mission soon… but I don't know what it is… does anyone have any ideas? And does anyone know what happened to Wufie?

Wufei: *poofs in* It's Wufei. Get it right!

Mel: Sorry Chang…

Wufei: *mutters* evil baka onna….

Mel: Yep! That's me! ^________^

Wufei: *leaves before things can get any worse…*

Mel: I won't write anymore until I get some feedback other than 'Good. Write more.' Although, that's always appreciated… I need more than that to get the next chapter up. And don't expect me to write anything else that's this long.


	4. Chapter 4

Mel: My house is depressing

Melara: *is entirely too happy* Yay! My muses are back!

Tsuru: *does not look happy*

Naki: *is ecstatic* Cookies!!!!!!

Melara: *gags Naki* No! don't say that word! The lawyers might recognize it!

Lawyers: *suddenly appear*

Melara: Smeg! Oh well, as long as you're here, why don't we do the legal crap!

Tsuru: You want to do the legal crap?

Melara: Yep! ^__________^

Tsuru: *shakes her head* 

Legal crap: *lawyers are closely watching the legal crap* I own this messed up plot. *lawyers nod* I own my muses. *lawyers nod, Tsuru frowns* I own this title… *lawyers frown, but move on* *Melara thinks:* uh oh! I blew it! How do I put them off guard… I know! *back to the legal crap…* I own this cookie… *lawyers nod, then stare at cookie* but you can have it! *lawyers fight over who gets the white chocolate macadamia nut, and who gets Mel's special chocolate chip* I own gundam wing… *lawyer takes shoe off and throws it at Melara, without looking up from the cookies* Itai! Did I say _own_? I meant to say _enslave_ it's characters… *lawyers begin to pelt Mel with various objects* Tsuru! Naki! Help! *Tsuru leaves the room, taking Naki with her.* Come back here you stupid muse!!!! *lawyers continue to throw various hard objects in Mel's general direction.* Sorry! It was a typo! Really! It was! I meant to say I do _not _own gundam wing! The computer forgot to put in that word… *lawyers ignore Mel, and continue to eat cookies* Shoo! Out! Now! *lawyer throws closest thing at Mel to shut her up, it happens to be a cookie* Yummy! Cookie! *Mel attempts to take a bite out of cookie, another lawyer snatches it out of her hand* Fine! Be that way! Take the cookies and leave! *lawyers refuse to leave* YOU GUYS ARE TOO PICKY!!! Fine! I'll say it! I am not making money from this damn fic! *mutters* but I think I'm going to ask for pay for the legal crap… I've wasted a ton of money on cookies… *lawyers leave, taking all of the cookies and crumbs* They are really starting to get on my nerves….

Melara: Okay! Let's get this fic started!

Naki/Tsuru: o.O

Melara: Nani?

Tsuru: Were you separated from Kat again?

Melara: *looses her happy hyper mood* I haven't talked to her for 21 hours now….

Tsuru: *slaps head* Then why don't you call her?

Melara: Her mother took her out somewhere, she wouldn't say where….

Tsuru: Why don't you write this chapter, then call her?

Melara: *sighs* alright….

**__**

Chapter four

Quatre sat on the old couch in the sitting room. His side was burning, pain that he knew was coming from Trowa. Quatre had called Sally Po, and asked her to come over. He knew that they were going to need her help when the gundam pilots came back.

'What's happening to them? What went wrong?' Quatre closed his eyes, wishing he could see what was happening to them. He felt a terrible ripping pain in his side, and his eyes snapped open.

'That was Heero, I know it.' He squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to block off the pain. His body shook when he felt another shock of pain from Heero. Quatre pulled his knees up to his chest, and curled up into a little ball. Lately, his space heart had been working a little stronger than Quatre needed. When one of his friends was hurt, physically or mentally, he could sense it, but not feel it directly. At least, that's how it was supposed to work. Quatre clutched his abdomen and tried hard not to cry out with the pain.

"Quatre?" Sally stood before Quatre. He hadn't realized that she had come in. "Are you alright?" Quatre closed his eyes again, but instead of the normal black nothing, he saw a horrifying scene.

Heero had managed to balance himself on his feet, and stared at the man in front of him, hatred burning in his eyes. The man laughed at Heero's stubbornness. Heero's speed was amazing, even after the loss of blood. He snatched the gun out of the man's hand and turned it on him. For the first time, Quatre noticed the line of soldiers that surrounded Heero. One of the faster soldiers held his gun up and fired at Heero before he could fire the gun in his hands. Heero's body lurched back with the force of the bullet, and the gun slipped out of his hands. The man wrapped a large hand around Heero's neck, and shoved him into the wall. Quatre cried out from the combined pain of the wound Heero had, and the knowledge that there was nothing he could do to help his friend in need. The man punched Heero in the stomach, hard. Heero coughed and spit up a mouth full of blood. Quatre stumbled forward from the pain, then fell to his knees. Heero slid down the door, leaving a trail of blood.

"Heero! No!" Quatre forced himself to get up, and ran towards Heero. Quatre put his hand on Heero's arm, and felt all of the pain from Heero flow through him. "Get up Heero. Get up…" Heero seemed to look right at Quatre for a moment, but only a moment. Heero rose to his feet and picked up the gun he had dropped. Quatre slipped away from his mind, and into the pain that was slowly consuming him. He was only half aware of the massacre that was taking place before him. Heero made one perfect shot after another, killing every soldier he could see. When he came to the man that had tortured him, he paused.

"Please… don't kill me…" the man pleaded. Heero dropped the gun, and began to walk away. The man smiled, and slowly pulled out a knife…

"Quatre! Get up!" Quatre opened his eyes again, and he was back in the safe house. The dull ache in his side disappeared, but the sharp pain remained in the three places Heero had been shot. Quatre looked up at Sally, his vision blurred from the pain.

"Heero… He's… He's…." Quatre tried to explain what he saw between gasps of air, but Sally silenced him.

"Shh. Calm down." Quatre let out a ragged sigh, and the pain subsided.

"He's been shot, multiple times… we need to help him…" Quatre paused and thought about how silly he must sound. Sally probably thought he was crazy. Heero was on L2, Quatre was still on earth. There was no proof that what Quatre had seen hadn't been a nightmare.

'But the pain… I felt his pain… I watched him hit the door… it was like I was there…' Sally sat down next to Quatre and put her arm around him. She said something, but Quatre couldn't hear her. He froze when he felt another tearing pain in his chest. He forced his eyes to stay open, so he wouldn't have to see what was happening. Keeping his eyes open only made it worse.

Relena… It was Relena this time. Quatre could see the girl fall to the ground, a look of satisfaction on her face. Heero let lose his emotions for a moment, letting them flow through him. Quatre shared his confusion, and once again, his pain. Quatre could feel every movement Heero made, as if they were his own. He could feel Heero's sanity slip, as he watched Relena die in front of him. He could feel the sad joy as Heero shared a kiss with his dead love. He could taste the blood from her lips.

'I love you, I always have. I'm sorry I never told you…' Quatre could even hear Heero's thoughts. After the kiss broke, Heero seemed emotionless, empty. Quatre couldn't bear the feeling anymore. He was doing something terribly wrong. He shouldn't be able to feel the things others do. He shouldn't be sharing their private thoughts…

Sally stared at Quatre, unsure of what to do. His grey eyes seemed to stare at nothing at all, his face was expressionless.

"Quatre?" The tiny boy seemed dead, but his pulse was healthy as could be. Quatre didn't move for what seemed like hours.

"I never thought this would happen…" Tears fell down his face, and his eyes drifted slowly toward Sally. "She's dead Sally, Relena's dead…"

Quatre had become afraid to leave Heero's side. Duo was unconscious, and Trowa had fallen asleep. Heero was handling the gundam, but barely. He had lost a lot of blood, and had gone pale because of it. Quatre stayed with him, becoming his strength. Heero should have passed out long ago, but Quatre had a feeling that he was helping Heero through this mess, being his guide.

"Relena's dead?" Quatre was forced to leave Heero as he landed DeathscytheHell. Sally stared at Quatre, dreading that what he had said was true. "How do you know?" Quatre stood up and walked towards the gundam hanger.

'Just a little longer… hold on… you can make it…' Heero forced himself to stay awake, though his muscles were burning with the combination of loss of blood, and exhaustion. Kate had curled up in Trowa's arms, and fallen asleep. Duo hadn't moved since Heero put him down.

'You're almost there, just land the gundam….' Heero managed to land DeathscytheHell somewhat gracefully, (meaning he hadn't killed anyone in the landing.) He felt something slip off his shoulder, and began to feel terribly cold.

"Don't go…" Heero closed his eyes. He knew it was foolish, but he could have sworn he had an angel behind him, forcing him to move on, taking away his pain..

But now, what ever it had been was gone, and Heero felt the wave of pain hit him with full force. Heero felt his head hit something hard, but he didn't care. He knew nothing but the pain, and the cold… terrible cold…

"Trowa… you need to get up now…." Trowa awoke to see a pair of bright green eyes, now filled with worry. "We need to get you help." Trowa pulled himself to his feet, and forced himself over to the pilot's seat. Heero was slumped over, his head against the arm of the chair. Trowa opened the cockpit, careful not to move Heero's body, for fear of injuring it. He limped over to the opening, and sat down on the edge, letting his feet dangle above the ground. He knew he couldn't jump that distance in his current condition, but he also knew that he had no choice.

"You stay here. I'm going to get help." Trowa slid off the edge, and fell. He landed in a roll to reduce the shock, but it didn't help much. Pain shot through his body, and jolted his mind. He didn't realize that someone was standing over him.

"Trowa!" At the sound of his name, he looked up. Quatre was already on his knees, helping Trowa to his feet. "Are you alright?" 

"I'm fine." Trowa was far from alright, and he knew it. But Heero and Duo were much worse than him, and he didn't want Quatre to worry. "But Heero is…."

"I know. He was shot," Quatre said, cutting him off. Trowa was dumbfounded. How could Quatre have known? Trowa mentally slapped himself.

'Heero must have warned him that we were coming, in which case, he would know about everyone.' He leaned on Quatre for support, and looked back up to the cockpit of the poorly landed gundam. Kate was sitting on the edge, looking down. She was staring at Quatre, her eyes wide.

"It's you! It's you!" Her face broke out into a wide smile. "You were there, weren't you? You were with Heero!" She swung her legs up and rolled over onto her feet.

"What is she talking about?" Trowa asked, quite puzzled by the girls remark. Quatre quickly asked Sally to help Trowa inside, and ignored the question.

"I'll be right down. You make sure that we have a place to put Heero when I get him down, he's going to be a bloody mess…" and with that, Quatre began to climb to the top of the gundam.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Kate had seen the blond boy before. He was there with Heero, walking beside him as they made their way to Deathscythe Hell. His eyes had the same warmth to them that she had seen in Relena, and she felt safe with him. The boy called Trowa was very close to him, they seemed to care for each other. They all did. Quatre climbed up into the cockpit, and walked over to the girl.

"You're back! You can help now!" Kate threw her arms around Quatre's tiny waist, and hugged him tightly.

"How do you know me?" Quatre gently pulled the little girl far enough away from him, that he could kneel down and look her in the face.

"You were there with Heero. You were helping him. I saw you…" Kate trailed off, and stared at Quatre. "…but Heero didn't… neither did Trowa…" Quatre opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a long sigh coming from behind them.

Duo sat up slowly and let out a long sigh. His headache was bearable now, but his body was stiff from the long battle. His legs wouldn't work the way he wanted them to, and when he tried to stand up, he only managed to fall over on his face.

"Itai…" he groaned. He rolled over and noticed Quatre. He was scanning Duo with very worried eyes. Duo just grinned at him. "Remind me not to do that again." The blond boy shook his head and smiled at Duo, then carefully placed an arm around him to hold him in a sitting position.

"How do you feel?" Duo winced as he tried to get up, his muscles weren't quite ready to hold his weight.

"As good as anyone could after a battle like that one…." Duo sighed again, and relaxed his aching muscles.

"Don't try to move to much, you might hurt yourself." Duo nodded, then he realized where he was.

"Hold on. How did I get here? Where's Heero? Is he alright?" The last thing Duo could remember was leaving Trowa to go find Heero, so how had he gotten in DeathscytheHell? And how did Quatre get here?

"Heero's hurt pretty badly, he was shot a few times in his side, and he's lost an awful lot of blood…" A little girl with hair resembling Quatre's walked over and sat down next to Duo. "We need to get him some help soon, or he could die." Quatre looked at Duo, then over to Heero, and let out a long sigh of defeat.

"Kate, can you hold Duo in this position until I get back? I'm going to take Heero in to Sally." The little girl nodded and slipped herself into Quatre's spot. Duo looked at the girl, and vaguely remembered seeing her face somewhere before.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright now. We'll take care of you, Heero, and Trowa." Duo was afraid he already knew the answer to his unasked question.

"What about Relena?" Kate's eyes sunk to the floor. She wasn't able to look Duo in the eyes as she answered him.

"She's dead." Duo's eyes widened, and he forced himself to his feet. "Wait! What are you doing?"

"I have to go find Heero." Duo stepped out to the edge of the cockpit, then jumped down. The landing jolted his brain, and he was forced to sit down until the fresh wave of pain had subsided.

'I have to make sure Heero is alright. I have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.'

'What do you think he's going to do? Kill himself?' Duo paused at this thought, and ran inside to find where Quatre had taken Heero, because he knew that that was exactly what Heero would do. A person could only stand so much in their life, and Heero had been put through more than anyone else Duo knew. Relena's death might just be enough to push him over the edge, and if he wasn't there for him, who knew what could happen.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Quatre walked into the small living room, carrying Heero as best he could. Sally and Trowa were sitting on the couch talking. Or rather, Sally was talking, and Trowa would nod a silent yes or no, and occasionally comment on something she said. However, all talk stopped when Trowa caught sight of the blond. He quickly got to his feet, and helped to hold the injured boy. Together, Trowa and Quatre managed to get Heero into Wufei's bedroom, the only one on the first floor.

"Be careful with him," Sally said, as she walked into the room. Trowa and Quatre set him down gently on the bed, then moved to the side so Sally could get him some help.

"I'm going to go get Duo and Kate. I'll be right back." Quatre shot a worried glance at Heero before turning to leave the room.

"Oh my god." Sally gently removed the Japanese boy's shirt, and looked at the holes in his side. By some miracle, none of his internal organs had been damaged, but two of the three bullets had stayed in his body. Sally went to work disinfecting the ugly wounds in his side. She would need to find some way to extract the bullets without causing any harm to his organs, and the bullets needed to come out soon. They might contain lead, and that certainly wouldn't help to make Heero's condition any better. Sally left to consult Quatre and Trowa on how it should be done, leaving the now half conscious Heero alone in the room.

As Duo walked into the house, Quatre attempted walking out of it. Since neither of them were paying attention to what was going on around them, this resulted in the two pilots colliding.

"Duo! I told you to wait for me to come back!" Duo slid past Quatre and continued on his way. He needed to find Heero, and he wasn't going to let anyone get in his way. "Duo wait!" Quatre put his hand on Duo's shoulder, and waited for him to turn around. He didn't.

"I have to go help Heero. I know he can live through a few shots in the side. Hell, if he can survive self detonating his gundam, this should be easy for him…" Quatre moved himself in front of Duo so he could look him in the eyes.

"Duo…" Duo had a look about him that could only be described as lost. Hopelessly lost.

"I just don't know if he can take much more… we've all been pushed so hard, but nothin' nearly as bad as what he's been through." Quatre tried to maintain eye contact, but Duo slipped away and ran down the halls to Wufei's bedroom.

"Duo. Don't push yourself to hard." Quatre walked outside to help Kate down from the gundam.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero's eyes snapped open, quickly gathering information about his surroundings. He was in a bed, Wufei's bed, to be exact. Quatre or Trowa must have brought him inside. Heero slowly sat up, and was cruelly reminded of his injuries by a flash of pain.

"Oh Sally, I'm so glad you're here. Where's Heero? Is he alright?" Duo's voice could be heard just outside the room. Heero slowly stood up, ignoring the fact that the room was spinning around him.

"Duo, calm down. Heero's in Wufei's bedroom. He's pretty banged up though, three shots in the side." Heero opened the door to the room and peered out into the hallway. Sally lead Duo over to the couch in the living room, and made sure he sat down. He was shaking terribly all over.

"Can I go see him?" Trowa was sitting in the arm chair next to the couch, and Sally sat down next to Duo. No one was facing Heero, and no one heard him walk further into the hallway.

"He's unconscious now, so it wouldn't do any good…" Heero leaned against the doorway to the living room.

"No. I'm not." All three heads snapped around to stare at Heero. Duo's eyes lit up and he sprung to his feet.

"Heero! You're alright!" Heero took a step foreword, and realized that he couldn't stand upright with out the support of the doorframe. Duo frowned and ran to Heero's side. "You shouldn't be up. Why did you get out of bed?" With Duo's help, Heero made his way back to the bed, and carefully laid down.

"Thanks." Heero slid himself back on the bed, so he could halfway sit up. Duo sat down on the bed beside him.

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"My laptop." Duo frowned, and crossed his arms.

"Anything but that. Honestly, you act like you can't live without that thing." Heero didn't take his eyes off of Duo.

"I want my laptop." Duo grinned.

"Alright. But you have to promise me something." Heero didn't like where this was headed at all. Whenever Duo had that maniac grin plastered to his face, everyone in the room is as good as dead.

"Duo. Stop pestering Heero. I need to patch him up." Sally walked into the room, carrying a handful of bandages, and a long metal instrument that resembled tweezers. Duo got up and started out the door.

"Just remember," Duo shot Heero a cold look. "I'm not done with you yet." Sally sat down on the bed where Duo had just been, and set out her utensils.

"I don't have any pain killers on hand, is that a problem?" Heero shook his head. He had experienced pain before, it wasn't new to him. He was a soldier, after all. He needed to be prepared to face a situation like this one. "Alright, but you can't move. Understand?" Heero nodded, and sally picked up the long, tweezer-like tool, and carefully attempted to extract a bullet from Heero's body.

Heero didn't scream, or move. He let the pain over take him, blurring his thoughts, letting him forget. The pain was almost comforting in a sense. It let him forget about Relena, and how kind she was to him, and how he would never see her beautiful face, or hear her soft laughter again.

Duo went up stairs to Heero's room to find his laptop. He was feeling a little better than when he had first gotten up, but he was still stiff, and it was painful to move.

"Alright Heero. Where'd ya hide it this time?" Every time Duo fooled with Heero's laptop, Heero hid it from him. And every time Heero hid his laptop from Duo, Duo managed to find it and hack through the security placed around important files. (or the personal ones, namely notes from Relena) This time, Heero had chosen the drawer in his desk with the lock on it, but he left it slightly open, just to make it look innocent. Duo pulled it out and turned it on, then carefully began to disable the Relena virus he had planted in the laptop. He was hoping Heero would forget about it if he got rid of it.

"Duo? Are you alright?" Duo looked up from the laptop, and found himself staring into a pair of bright green eyes. Kate, sensing Duo's discomfort, backed up a bit before repeating her question. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Couldn't be better!" Duo grinned widely and slid the laptop behind his back. "How about you?"

"I'm feeling fine. I just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all." Duo flopped back on Heero's bed, his braid flopping forward onto his face in the process.

"You know, Quatre is a good cook. Why don't you go ask him to make us some dinner? Kate laughed, and sat down next to him.

"You're just trying to get rid of me. You want to get back to working on Heero's laptop before he finds out." Duo was surprised that the child had figured that out. Was he that obvious?

"You won't tell him, will you? He'll have my hide if he finds out." Kate laughed again, and flipped the braid out of Duo's face.

"Nope. I won't tell him. I'm good at keeping secrets." Duo smiled and ruffled the girls hair.

"I wasn't kidding about the food either. I'm starving!" Kate giggled, and walked out of the room, leaving Duo with the laptop once again.

Duo finished removing the virus, then put the laptop down on the bed next to him.

'God. I'm so tired. I guess it couldn't hurt to take a little nap…' He closed his eyes, and relaxed his tired muscles, and thought about how good it felt to be in a bed.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Trowa was lying on the couch. Sally had carefully taken care of his sore side, and yelled at him when he tried to get up to help Quatre with dinner.

"You'll irritate the injury if you move. You need to rest for a few days." Kate helped Trowa prop himself up with a pillow, so he could eat his dinner.

"Arigatoo." Kate grinned and handed Trowa a glass of water.

"I'm happy to help you, it almost feels like home." Kate turned around to face Quatre, who had just entered the room. "How's Duo?" Quatre smiled and sat down in the chair next to the sofa, carrying a cup of hot chocolate for Kate, and some tea for him self.

"He's asleep, in Heero's bedroom. I'd hate to see what Heero would do to him if he found out." 

Kate giggled, and crossed her legs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Heero slip by the doorway.

"Well, as long as Heero stays in bed **like he's supposed to…**" She raised her voice at the last few words, making sure Heero could hear them. Sure enough, he did. Heero stuck his head into the room, and Kate smiled at him. "What are you doing up so early? You weren't supposed to move until tomorrow morning." Heero went back into Wufei's room, and closed the door.

"He's certainly not patient when it comes to his laptop, is he?" Quatre sipped his tea calmly, trying not to show his amusement at the sound of the door being opened again.

Heero was not going to stay in that bedroom any longer. He had suspected that Duo was up to something, but he had hoped he would be smart enough not to fool with his laptop again. Heero was going to go upstairs and give Duo a piece of his mind.

"Duo," Heero opened the door to his room, prepared for anything but what he saw. Duo was asleep on his bed. The laptop was next to him, still on from when he had been using it. The word processing program had been opened, and on it was a half written note.

"Hey Heero,

Listen, I got rid of that stupid virus I put on your computer, I hope I can make that up to you someday, but I honestly didn't think it would bother you. Oh, and remember that promise you had to make me? You aren't off the hook yet. You need to promise me that you won't do anything stupid because of Relena. You got that? I don't think I would be able to…." And the note stopped. Duo must have fallen asleep while doing it. Heero put the laptop aside and looked down at his sleeping friend.

"Duo?" Duo turned slowly on his back, and stared at Heero with half closed eyes. It took him a minute to register the fact that some one was there. It took him even longer to realize who it was.

"Oi Hee-chan." Duo rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. "So, why are you here?"

"This is my room." Duo blinked twice, then tried to sit up.

"Itai," Duo flopped back on the bed. He couldn't keep himself upright, a combination of exhaustion, and his taut muscles. "You don't mind if I just stay here for a while, do you?" Heero shook his head.

"You shouldn't be moving at all. You need sleep." Duo looked at the bandages on Heero's side, and grinned.

"You're one to talk. What did you have to do to get by Quatre? Gag him and tie him to a chair?" Heero didn't answer, but his eyes told Duo that he had found that last comment humorous. Duo looked over to the side of the bed, where the clock was. It said it was 7:30, but it didn't specify AM or PM. "Heero?"

"We left at 3:30 yesterday after noon. We arrived back here at approximately 11:30 the following morning. You haven't eaten a full meal for two days. I'll be back with some dinner." Duo blinked twice. That was much more information then he wanted, however, the aspect of food was quite pleasing.

"Do you always have to be so precise about everything? A simple AM or PM would have done quite well…" Heero stood up, walked out of the room. Duo noticed that Heero had a slight limp to his walk. Duo forced himself up, and this time he stayed up.

"Heero, wait." Heero continues down the hallway, and Duo knew the only way to talk to him was to follow him.

'Great, just as I was getting comfortable too…' Duo pulled himself out of the bed, using the desk next to it. After Duo had managed to get himself on his feet, he carefully made his way to the door. Every step he took seemed to make things easier, and with his headache gone, he was able to concentrate on what he would say to Heero once he caught up with him.

By the time he made it down the steps, he had forgotten all about his stiff muscles. He was feeling perfectly fine. He spun around the corner, and into the kitchen, hoping to get something to eat before his headache came back. Heero had both hands on the counter top, and his head bowed between them. His breathing was quick and forced, and he looked like he was in great pain.

"Heero?" Heero stood up strait, and turned to face Duo. His face was streaked with half dried tears, and his hands were tinted red from blood. His bandages had obviously been disturbed, they were wrinkled and bunched up in some places, and not covering others.

Duo was speechless. He had never seen Heero cry before. There was always a tint of sadness in his eyes when someone was killed, but he had never openly expressed his emotions before. Kate walked in the room behind Duo, and up next to Heero.

"You can't pull at them, you'll irritate the skin, then it won't heal properly." Kate grabbed one of the perfect soldiers hands, and led him back into Wufei's bedroom. Heero's eyes never left Duo's until he was pulled into the room, and out of sight.

'Heero, I wish I could help you, I know how much it hurts to lose someone close to you, I know the pain you're feeling, just don't do anything stupid. I don't think I could stand that pain again…' Duo slowly pulled a granola bar out of the cabinet, and began to eat it. He didn't feel quite as hungry anymore, and the granola bar tasted stale anyway. He tossed the half finished snack into the trashcan, and went back up stairs, this time to his own room.

"Heero?" Quatre felt a shot of pain in his side, and stood up to see if Heero was alright. Trowa twisted himself to see what was wrong.

"What is it?" Quatre fell back into his chair as the pain worsened. His head hit the wall behind him and he closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. "Quatre? Are you alright?" Quatre nodded yes, and opened his eyes. Kate stood up and walked out of the room.

"It's Heero…" Quatre once again found himself at Heero's side, sharing his pain and his thoughts. He was crying for Relena. He kept telling himself that she wasn't important, that he didn't care for her to begin with. Quatre put his arm around Heero. "It's okay. You're allowed to cry. It's only human to feel pain." Heero grabbed at his side, and pulled some of the bandages away from his wounds.

'I'm not supposed to care. I'm not supposed to be capable of these feelings. I've been trained against it.' Heero purposely tore the fragile skin that had been forming around the hole he had uncovered, letting the blood stain his hands. Letting the pain cloud his mind.

"Heero! Stop! Are you crazy?" Quatre grabbed at Heero's hand, pulling it away. Heero put his hands on the counter, and lost himself in the pain. "Heero, please stop. Don't run away from this. Don't bury yourself in the pain. That's the worst way to solve this…" Quatre backed up, and gave the other pilot some breathing room. As soon as his hand left Heero's, he found himself back in the chair, staring at Trowa.

"Are you alright?" Quatre politely smiled at his friend.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. Is there something I can get for you?" Trowa shook his head.

"No, I'm fine." Quatre nodded, and relaxed a bit in his chair. The pain was still in his side, and he didn't want to injure himself getting up, besides. He had a feeling Kate went to help, and with her there, Heero was in good hands.

Heero had fallen asleep, and he knew he was dreaming. Relena was standing in front of him, talking to him.

"Heero. You need to stay in bed, how else are you going to get better?" Heero didn't really listen to what Relena had to say, he was just enjoying the moment, listening to Relena's soft voice, the smooth rhythm to her speech, the way she talked with her hands. "Heero?"

"It's just a dream, and you're just a memory, aren't you?" Relena nodded sadly, and walked up to Heero.

"I may be dead, but I want you to know that I'll always be with you." She wrapped her arms around Heero, and pulled him into a tight embrace. Heero was surprised by the action, and wasn't quite sure how to react, so he simply held Relena close to him, not wanting to lose her again.

"Ai shiteru," Heero buried his face in Relena's soft hair, loving the scent of flowers that she always seemed to have about her.

"I have to go soon," Relena gently pulled away, and Heero reluctantly let his hands leave her golden hair.

"I don't want to lose you again," Relena smiled and reached behind her neck to take off her necklace. She held her closed hand out to Heero, presenting him with it.

"Take this. I think Kate would like you to have it." Heero held his hand out, and Relena dropped the thin silver chain into his hands. There was a little jade dolphin charm attached to it, and it shimmered in the light. "I promise I'll never leave you if I can help it." Heero pulled the charm close to his chest, and looked into Relena's sad eyes. "Ai shiteru kokoro kara," and she left.

Heero opened his eyes, and found himself back in Wufei's room. As he slowly sat up, he heard a tiny tinkling noise. The jade dolphin chain was still in his hand, the same one from the dream. Heero quickly pocketed the charm, and made his way into the kitchen. He knew he needed food if he were to feel better, so he began to make a batch of spaghetti.

Duo woke up to the smell of Italian cooking. Grinning to himself, he got up and headed downstairs.

'Heero must be up. He's the only one who cooks Italian unless I pester them to do so, of course, he's the only one who can make it smell like that…' Sure enough, Heero was walking around the kitchen, gathering vegetables to make spaghetti sauce. Duo looked into the empty pot, then picked up the fresh garlic and began to grate it.

"Oi Heero, What made you decide to cook for once?" Heero certainly didn't look it, but he could cook as well as Quatre, if not better. He just never did it because he was always so involved in a mission, repairing his gundam, or his damned laptop.

"I was hungry," Duo snorted to himself, then looked up at the clock.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Hn…"

"It's 2:27 in the morning." Heero continued cooking, as if this news didn't surprise him. Duo blinked twice. "No one cooks at 2:27 in the morning." Heero poured some tomato paste into the pot, and turned the stove on. "Heero, its 2:27! No one's even supposed to be up at 2:27! So what possessed you to cook **at 2:27**!!" Heero took out a knife, and pulled the cutting board away from Duo.

"Look at the clock Duo." Duo stared at Heero. "It's now 2:31. You've been inaccurate for the past three minutes." Duo was stunned by what was apparently Heero's sense of humor. That was the second time this week that Heero had made a joke. They might not have been very good jokes, but they were jokes none the less. "Duo, if you aren't going to help, then go sit down so I have some room to work." Duo picked up the celery and a knife of his own, and began to chop.

"I get some too, don't I?" Heero picked up the cutting board, and scraped the tomato, celery, and garlic into the pot, then began to chop up the parsley.

"That depends. Do I get my laptop?" Duo pulled out some leftover ham, and crumbled it into the pot.

"You want it? Go get it. It's in your room on your bed where I left it." Heero dumped his parsley into the pot, and put a lid on it.

"I can't do stairs yet, not for a few more days." Heero pulled down a glass, and poured himself some water. Duo sat down in a chair, and watched his friend.

"Heero, are you sure you're alright?" Heero pulled out another pot, and began to make the actual spaghetti. "I mean, about Relena…" Heero dropped the pot on the stove with a clang, and roughly filled it with water.

"I'm fine." Heero took some of the unused garlic that Duo had grated, and plunked it into the water.

"No. You aren't fine. You can't just hide this, and pretend it never happened." Heero sprinkled some salt, and added oil to the water.

"It doesn't matter." Duo leaped out of his chair, filled with rage.

"What do you mean 'it doesn't matter'? How can you say that?" Heero walked past Duo, and sat down at the table.

"Hn." Duo slammed his hands down on the table, and glared at Heero.

"Don't give me that 'hn' crap. Answer my question. How can you just push this aside like you never loved her?" Duo's headache was back, and it pounded in his ears, making it difficult to think.

"It doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done." The spaghetti water had begun to boil, and Heero added some linguine.

"You… You…" Duo took a step toward Heero, trying to get him to open up a bit. If he kept this to himself it would eat him alive. "Heero, please…" The room was spinning, and Duo's headache made it so he couldn't hear Heero's response, he could only see his lips moving. Duo stumbled back, trying to find his chair. His hand caught the back of it, but he fell over slightly to the side, hitting the floor, and tipping the chair over on top of him.

Heero watched as Duo fell backwards. He quickly lifted the chair off of him, and helped him sit on top of it.

"Duo? Are you alright?" Duo grabbed onto Heero's arm, using it to keep himself upright.

"Just… Just a headache… that's all…" Heero pulled a chair close to Duo's, and sat down. "I'll be…. I'll be fine."

"Have you had anything to eat since we got back?" Duo paused to think before he replied.

"Three bites of a granola bar… Does that count?" Heero carefully pulled himself away from Duo a little at a time, to make sure he could sit up by himself.

"You need food. It should help your headache." Heero pulled down a plate and put some of the spaghetti on it, then poured some sauce on top of that, making sure to get a lot of the ham. He put the plate on the table in front of Duo, then turned around to get some silverware.

"Arigatoo gozaimasu" Heero handed Duo a fork and spoon, then got himself a plate. "You still aren't off the hook you know." Heero sat down next to Duo, and looked at him.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to promise me you won't… that you won't kill yourself… because of Relena" Heero picked up his fork and began to eat. "Heero," Duo put his hand on Heero's, pushing his fork away from his mouth. "Please?"

"Hn…" Heero continued to eat his food. Reluctantly, Duo did the same. He didn't have the energy to fight Heero at the moment. But somehow, he would get Heero to promise him.

"It's very good," Heero finished his plate, and took Duo's with him to wash. Duo had enjoyed the meal, but it didn't sit well in his stomach. His head was still spinning, and it was getting worse now that he had had something to eat. "You know I'm not going to leave you alone until you promise me, don't you?"

"Hn," Heero went back to cleaning up his mess. Duo closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain in his head. He was surprised when he felt something warm beside him. He opened his eyes, and saw that he would have fallen off of his chair if Heero hadn't caught him.

"Heh, thanks again."

"You need to go to bed."

"Not until you promise." Heero was stuck, and he knew it. Duo was not going to get off his back about it until he did. Heero lifted Duo off of his chair, and prepared to carry him to the nearest bed. "Hey! Put me down!" Duo twisted slightly, trying to get away from Heero. He was too tired to do much more than that, and his head was still pounding.

"Can you stand on your own?" Duo twisted again, and fell to the floor.

"Itai. What was that for?" He pushed himself onto his feet, then tried to walk away from Heero.

"I thought not." Duo wavered again, but Heero caught him before he could fall then picked him up once again. "You're going to bed." Heero put Duo down on Wufei's bed, then sat down in the chair at the desk.

"You're not going to sleep there, are you?" Duo didn't get a reply, and he was very comfortable. He didn't even notice he had gone to sleep.

Heero watched Duo's sleeping figure. His chest rose and fell with each breath. Heero pulled out the tiny jade dolphin from his pocket, and looked it over.

"Omae o yakusoku suru, Duo." He kept the necklace close to his chest, and slowly fell asleep. "I promise…."

To be continued…

Mel: ^____^ So, Whatd'ya think? Did I murder anyone else's personality? Is Kate acting too old for her age? Did I use too much Japanese?

Tsuru: Yes.

Mel: ?.? Yes to what? All of them?

Tsuru: No, just to the last one.

Mel: Uh… Heh heh… Um…. Do you think I should translate?

Tsuru: That might be a good idea.

Mel: Alrighty then! First things first! 'Omae o yakusoku suru' should roughly mean 'I promise you'

Naki: But you said first thing first….

Mel: ?.?

Naki: That was the last bit of Japanese you used….

Tsuru: It was a figure of speech Naki.

Naki: Oh.

Mel: Anywhoots, 'Itai' means 'ouch' in any place I used it here. It could also be used to mean pain, or hurt.

Tsuru: She's begun to use that one in normal speech, it drives her French teacher nuts!

Mel: Only when I say 'Nani?' if I don't know what he means….

Tsuru: *laughs*

Mel: 'Arigatoo' means 'Thank you' and 'Arigatoo gozaimasu' means 'thank you very much' Now, the next one is one everyone should already know. 'Ai shiteru' is 'I love you' and 'Ai shiteru kokoro kara' is 'I love you from the bottom of my heart'

Naki: Awwwwwww……

Mel: Yeah…. Uh… well… what else did I use?

Tsuru: Oi

Mel: Oh, right. 'Oi' is only used by men, and depending on the situation, it could mean 'hey,' 'hi,' 'say,' 'hello,' or 'look'….. wow, that was long…..

Tsuru: Yes. It was.

Mel: ……

Naki: Nani?

Mel: ……. Didn't I say I would never write anything that long again?

Tsuru: I think I remember something like that,

Mel: ……. Oh well, I guess that gives me an excuse for not having it out sooner, ne?

People reading fic: No!

Mel: *shrinks* Uh…. Sorry, but I had humanities homework….. I had AlgebraII/trig and French II home work too, and biology! Hell, I even had Choir home work!

Tsuru: And I'm sure they all needed to hear your schedule, didn't they?

Mel: Uh…. Heh heh…

Naki: Can I have a cookie now?

Lawyers: *swarm in* We want some too!

Mel: *grins* If you give a Naki cookies she will call upon the lawyers…

Tsuru: *shakes head* She's lost it….

Naki: *hands out cookies to lawyers*

Mel: *continues reciting* If you give the lawyers cookies they should leave your fic alone!

Lawyers: *poof out*

Mel: *beams* That worked quite well!

Tsuru: *shakes head* Hopeless.…

Mel: Ooh! Review!!!!! Please!!!!! It might encourage me to do my biology homework in homeroom again…

Naki: That's not a very good idea….

Mel: No, but it gives me more time to work on my fic!

Tsuru: Is it that important to you?

Mel: *has fun messing up another quote* A fic! A fic! My freedom for a fic!

Tsuru/Naki: *blink, blink*

Mel: ^__^()

Tsuru: Would you believe that she was given a homework assignment in Math to describe what they did in class to someone else…

Naki: And she did the thing in script form….

Mel: Explaining it to the G-boyz and Kat!! ^___^

Naki: I wonder what she got on it?

Tsuru: We'll know on Tuesday….

Mel: Ooh! When I get it back I need to type it up!

Tsuru: Do you honestly thing people would want to read that?

Naki: Let's ask them!!!

Mel: Well, what do you think, is that a good fic idea? Should I post it when I get it back? Put your answers in those reviews!!! ^___^

Tsuru: *blinks twice* Weren't you going to call Kat?

Mel: Nope! She called me quite a few times while I was writing this! I now haven't seen her in 40.5 hours! She's supposed to call me in ten minutes so we can get together! ^______________^

Naki: Then why don't you hurry up and post this?

Mel: Good idea. Oh, and Arigatoo to anyone who reads my fic and gives me critique. It honestly does help.

Naki: She's not kidding when she says she likes flames….

Mel: But I haven't gotten any on this yet, I have gotten people telling me that I'm crazy, but no flames….


	5. Chapter 5, where wufei has been, reveale...

Mel: *shrinks* Uh. konnichi wa...  
  
Tsuru: Melara, what chapter are you on now?  
  
Mel: Well, if you had been here, you would know! *sticks nose up in air*  
  
Tsuru: Answer my question.  
  
Mel: Uh.. Five...  
  
Tsuru: You mean to tell me that you haven't worked on Duo is sick at all for the past two months?  
  
Mel: *shrinks again, if possible* hai..  
  
Tsuru: *sighs* You are impossible..  
  
Mel: Well, maybe if you hadn't left me after we decided not to make the kimono, you could have helped me find some time to write! I was bombarded with homework!!!!!  
  
Naki: o.O You had about an hours worth of homework a night.. And you never did half of it..  
  
Mel: That... That's not the point!!!! *crosses arms*  
  
Tsuru: And you spent all of your time on the weekends with Kat, with out bothering to work on fanfictions.  
  
Mel: That's not entirely true.. I worked on this one..  
  
Tsuru: It doesn't help your readers if you work on the chapter after the one they haven't read.  
  
Mel: Well, what do you want me to do!  
  
Naki: Put Wufei back in.  
  
Mel: I was planning on that already, but I don't know what to. uh.  
  
Tsuru: Well?  
  
Mel: If I tell you, then I'll give away a big surprise.  
  
Naki: :::hopefully::: Another plot twist?  
  
Mel: Exactly!  
  
Naki: YAYNESS!!!!!  
  
Mel: However, I have a few shounen ai movies to watch so.  
  
Tsuru: *grabs Mel's braid at the nape of her neck* Get. To. Work.  
  
Mel: *freezes* You wouldn't.  
  
Tsuru: *yanks on her hair* Now.  
  
Mel: Itai! Hai! Hai! Now leggo!  
  
Tsuru: *lets Mel's braid drop* Good.  
  
Mel: *grumbles*  
  
Naki: Chocolate? Anyone? *holds out chocolate*  
  
Mel: Oh, right, lawyers.  
  
Legal crap: *lawyers run in room, in search of chocolate* I do not own Gundam Wing, and I make no money from my fics. That is the end of my disclaimer.  
  
Tsuru: ?.?  
  
Naki: O.O  
  
Tsuru: You were really serious there, you are done with the legal crap..  
  
Mel: That's what I said, wasn't it?  
  
Lawyers: *gape at Mel*  
  
Mel: I did my disclaimer, now go away.  
  
Lawyers: But. but. but..  
  
Mel: No, I have no cookies either.  
  
Naki: O.O  
  
Mel: *grabs chocolate from Naki* Here. *hands it to the lawyers* And I have some oatmeal raisin muffins down stairs if you want them.  
  
Lawyers: *walk out with chocolate, dazed*  
  
Tsuru: *puts back of hand against Mel's forehead*  
  
Naki: She's ill!  
  
Mel: *growls*  
  
Tsuru: *backs off* No, we've just put her in a bad mood..  
  
Naki: *sneaks out*  
  
Mel: Are you done yet?  
  
Tsuru: You still have to do a warning.  
  
Mel: Just get it over with.  
  
Warnings: Mel is in a very bad mood.  
  
Tsuru: Is that it?  
  
Mel: *growls*  
  
Warnings(continued): Because Melara is in such a bad mood, she is going to mercilessly torture the five assassins. She will also introduce shounen ai, however, it will not be with any of the pilots.  
  
Tsuru: You know, some of the readers aren't going to be happy about that.  
  
Mel: I. Don't. Care. Go bitch about it to someone else.  
  
Tsuru: O.O  
  
Mel: I'm starting the story.  
  
Tsuru: *nods numbly*  
  
1.1 Chapter five  
  
Wufei woke up slowly, and found himself in a dark room. He tried to stand up, but was restricted by the tight ropes around his wrists, ankles, and stomach. Alarm swept through his mind as he tried to remember how he had gotten there.  
  
A soft click brought Wufei out of his thoughts. The door to the room opened, shining a bright sliver of light in his eyes. He straightened in his chair, and watched as a young man with shin-length, jet black hair walked into the room.  
  
"Well, I see you're awake. Good, very good." The man flipped a switch on the wall, and a bright light filled the room. Wufei shut his eyes tightly and waited for them to adjust. "You've been here for a couple days now. Do you remember how you got here?" Wufei opened his eyes again, and saw that the man had kneeled down right in front of him, staring at him with crystal blue eyes.  
  
After a few moments, Wufei shook his head. The man stood up and put a comfortable distance between the two.  
  
"You had quite a time in the woods a few nights ago. Apparently, an unfortunate OZ soldier ran into you while you were on a midnight stroll. He recognized you and called for backup right before you killed him." The man paused to see how Wufei was reacting to the situation. When he saw no recollection of events, he continued. "The reinforcements outnumbered you, and they were all equipped with firearms. All you had was your sword. They offered you the chance to surrender, but."  
  
"What do you want from me?" Wufei cursed himself as soon as the question came out of his mouth. He was obviously here for questioning, and he had just given the man exactly what he was looking for. A weakness.  
  
"Well, if that's how you want it." The man shrugged. "All I want from you is the location of the gundams."  
  
'Puh, That's "all he wants".' Wufei forced himself to keep his mouth shut this time, so as not to err again.  
  
"Come now Wufei, don't be stubborn. I'd like to end this meeting without harming you." The man said Wufei's name casually, not harsh and filled with hatred like all of the other questioners that had known which gundam he piloted. Then again, none of them had ever known his name.  
  
"You couldn't care less if I were quartered and fed to the dogs, so long as you had the information you wanted." Ah! Another mistake!  
  
"I'm sorry you feel that way." With that, the man turned around to leave the room. Wufei was utterly confused.  
  
"Where are you going?" Wufei shouted. The man paused just long enough to give a response.  
  
"I'm going to come back when you're feeling a little more cooperative." He was out the door before Wufei could botch again.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
"Himitsu! This isn't going to work. He is not just going to give us the information without a fight." The black haired man walked out of the room where Wufei was being held, and was now talking to another man with light blue hair that came down to his thighs, and wild bangs.  
  
"I didn't expect that he would, but we must always give people that option." Himitsu sat down on a soft sofa in the room, and gestured for his friend to do the same, but his offer was refused.  
  
"What do you propose we do now?" The man threw his hands up in the air in a frustrated manner. Himitsu stood up slowly and walked over to his friend.  
  
"Nakushita," The name was spoken barely above a whisper. "Calm down. This isn't as big of a problem as it seems." Himitsu wrapped his arms around Nakushita and squeezed lightly. Nakushita relaxed in his koi's arms.  
  
"I know, I know. But if we don't get our hands on one of their gundams soon, we'll starve. Have you forgotten that our food supply has been cut off until we make some progress?" Nakushita backed away and looked up into his lover's light golden eyes.  
  
"Don't worry." Himitsu lowered his head, and captured his koi's lips in a passionate kiss. "I'll take care of it." He gave Nakushita one last squeeze, then walked into the room containing Wufei.  
  
"Hmph, good luck getting anything out of him.."  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Wufei looked up as another man entered the room. This one was much taller, and had light blue hair that wasn't quite as long as the other's was.  
  
"Why don't we clean you up a bit." Wufei looked down at his clothes for the first time, and realized just how much of a mess he must have looked. His normally pristine white pants were covered in dirt and dried blood; his blue shirt didn't look much better and had several tears in it. The man knelt down next to Wufei and began to unbind his hands.  
  
"Why are you untying me?" The man pulled the rope away from Wufei's wrists, and began to untie the knots restricting his legs.  
  
"Well," he laughed. "It would be rather difficult to take a shower while tied to a chair, don't you agree?" The man finished with the ropes, and offered his hand to Wufei. Being the proud man that he was, Wufei refused any help, and forced his stiff legs to support his weight. The man smiled and nodded, then began to walk out of the room. Wufei stood still, baffled.  
  
'What? He's just going to let me walk out of here? No restraints? No threats? What kind of a prisoner am I..' The man opened the door, then turned around.  
  
"Aren't you coming?" Wufei silently decided to make a break for it once he made it past the man. However, after only one step, his ankle twisted oddly, and Wufei soon found himself sprawled out on the floor. The man shook his head, and walked back until he stood over the young Chinese boy. He offered his hand again, although he knew his help would be refused.  
  
"Who are you?" Wufei snapped, as he began his futile attempts to get up again.  
  
"My name is Himitsu Honma." Wufei gasped in pain as his ankle snapped under his weight, and he collapsed on the floor again. "You, my friend, need some help." Wufei glared at Himitsu, then reluctantly accepted his hand.  
  
After getting Wufei to his feet, Himitsu put his arm around the smaller boy's chest, allowing Wufei to use him as a crutch until they reached the bathroom.  
  
"I'll be back in a few minutes. You go ahead and clean yourself up a bit." Wufei sat down on a stool in the small room, and watched as Himitsu left the room and locked it.  
  
'I don't like this. Why did he lock the door?"  
  
'Why do you think he locked the door, baka. Too keep other's out while you showered.'  
  
'Or to keep me in..' After a while, the thought of a nice warm shower won over his suspicions of his captors. He carefully took his shirt off, and folded it. Then he attempted to remove his pants (for his shoes were missing.) His ankle had already swollen badly. He was going to need to put it back in place before it got too much worse, but that would have to wait. Right now, all Wufei wanted was a nice, warm shower. He limped over to it and closed the curtain, then relaxed as the warm water beat down rhythmically on his chest. He pulled out his hair tie, and sighed.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Himitsu had found some of Nakushita's old clothes, they might fit Wufei. He walked up to the door, and heard the pounding of water through the door. He sighed lightly, then opened the door to exchange the clothes. He placed the faded blue-jeans, silk black boxers, and white T-shirt on the sink, then picked up the torn and tattered clothes folded neatly on the stool. Wufei didn't hear Himitsu, or if he did, he didn't show any obvious reactions. As quietly as he came, Himitsu closed and locked the door once more, then went to dispose of the articles of clothing in his hands.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Nakushita slammed his hands down on the table as he listened to the running water in the room above him.  
  
"I understand that he wants to treat the other pilot nicely." A girl with blond hair that reached her waist sat down across from Himitsu and opened up a small black laptop. "But why does Himitsu offer him luxuries that we don't have!" The girl paused to shoot her associate a cold glance with her verdant green eyes.  
  
"Himitsu knows what he is doing. You should keep your petty complaints to yourself." The girl ran her fingers through her hair, then began to type on her laptop. Nakushita balled one of his hands into a fist. "I'm surprised that they put a soldier as inapt as you on this mission." She laughed slightly. "They even put you in charge of one of the three only Gundams in their possession.."  
  
"Midii." A firm voice interrupted her. "Don't provoke him. Next time, I won't stop you. When that happens, I refuse to listen to you complain when he hits you square in the stomach." Himitsu put his hands on Nakushita's shoulders and rubbed them softly.  
  
"Fine." Midii closed her laptop and stood up. "I assume you want me to keep your questioning methods out of the report?"  
  
"Hai," Himitsu answered, before sitting down. Midii shook her head and headed out of the room.  
  
"Men." On her way to the stairs, she stopped in a closet space and turned a small silver knob on the wall, then continued up to her room.  
  
Nakushita shook his head as he watched Midii saunter out of the room. "Mitsu-koi?" Himitsu leaned over and brushed his lips against Nakushita's.  
  
"Shinpai shinai. I understand your confusion, but I needed an excuse to change his clothes. If he were bugged, we would be killed." Nakushita stood up and wrapped his arms around Himitsu's neck.  
  
"I trust you." He pressed his lips against Himitsu's and forced him to open up to him. They stood there for quite some time, simply enjoying each other.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Wufei jumped back in surprise as the water suddenly went cold, smacking his head into the wall behind him.  
  
"Great." he groaned, then reached out to turn the shower off. He groped around for his towel, then wiped the water out of his eyes. He looked around the room, and saw that his clothes were missing.  
  
'It was a trap!'  
  
'It was not.'  
  
'He stole my clothes!'  
  
'He gave you new ones.' Wufei carefully picked up the pair of black boxers, and slid them on.  
  
"I don't like this." After fully clothing himself, he carefully pulled his hair back into a pony tail. He turned to open the door, but he didn't need to.  
  
"How do you feel?" Himitsu stood in the doorway, one hand by his side, the other behind his back. Wufei instinctively took a step backwards and reached for his katana, which wasn't there. Himitsu held out his hands to show that he meant no harm. "I'm sorry for startling you."  
  
'If I move now, I could push past him and get out of here.'  
  
'Baka. It wouldn't be that simple. It's never that simple. He must have something planned in the case that you try to escape.'  
  
'He should have a gun on him, I could take it.'  
  
'Wait a little longer.' Himitsu motioned for Wufei to follow, which he did obediently.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Midii attached her laptop to the main computer system, and set it to upload a directory, then she propped her feet up on top of the monitor, and closed her eyes.  
  
"Midii, what are you doing?" Nakushita walked into the room, holding a small sandwich in each hand.  
  
"I was trying to get some sleep." Midii's eyes flicked open, and she glared at Nakushita. "What are you doing with those?" Himitsu handed one of the sandwiches to Midii, then sat down in the chair beside her.  
  
"I brought you your meal. You looked like you needed it." Midii looked up at Nakushita, her eyes softening.  
  
"Arigat?." Neither of the two said a word for a while. Then Nakushita brought his arm up and pushed Midii's feet off of the monitor. "Hey!"  
  
"I need to use this." He hit a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him, and the room that Wufei was staying in flicked onto the screen. Midii muttered an insult under her breath, then she crossed her legs on the chair and leaned back.  
  
"If you wanted to spy on your lover, you could have just said so.." Nakushita's hand twitched, but he made no move on Midii.  
  
"You need to focus on your own work." Midii laughed to herself, then closed her eyes again.  
  
'I wonder what got to him. the fact that he was spying, or the fact that I knew they were lovers.'  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Wufei watched as Himitsu sat down on a small bed in the room they had entered, the room that he was to sleep in.  
  
"You're giving me a bed?" Wufei asked incredulously. Himitsu stood up and walked behind Wufei, pulling his hair tie out. Wufei's eyes widened, and he turned to face the older man. Himitsu ran his hands through Wufei's hair, letting a loose strand free to fall in front of his bronze tinted face.  
  
"You should leave it down. It looks better that way."  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Nakushita's hands tightened on the arms of his chair as he watched the room in the monitor. Himitsu was brushing Wufei's hair, preparing to put it back up. Wufei's surprised expression made it obvious that he had not been expecting such an action. Nakushita wished that his koi would come up with a different questioning strategy. Midii didn't need to open her eyes to know what was going on.  
  
"Nakushita," she snapped, without moving. "I can't believe you would be so childish as to be jealous of a mere boy." She slowly uncrossed her legs, then opened her eyes to look at Nakushita.  
  
"Go back to your work." Nakushita returned his gaze to his computer, and smirked as he watched Himitsu put a silver band into Wufei's hair.  
  
"What's so funny?" Nakushita simply shook his head.  
  
"Himitsu is only playing with him. He just bugged him in case he decides to escape. That's why we haven't done anything to prevent him from doing so." Nakushita closed his eyes, and wondered why he hadn't thought of that sooner. He was going to have to apologize to him when he was finished.  
  
"Love. it can only get in the way." Midii tilted her chair back until it rested against the wall, then went to sleep.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Himitsu finished tying Wufei's hair up, then went around in front of the boy again. His mouth was open in surprise, and his eyes flared with anger and confusion. Apparently, the plan was working.  
  
"I'll go get you something to eat. You can familiarize yourself with the room." Himitsu said the words softly inches away from the young pilot's ear. He felt guilty for acting that way to anyone other than Nakushita, but it was the best plan he had for getting Wufei to give them the information they needed. Himitsu was not stupid enough to believe that he could use normal interrogation techniques on him. All of the Gundam Pilots were trained to die before revealing information. Himitsu had decided that the best way to find what they needed was to confuse this boy.  
  
Himitsu left the room, and walked downstairs into the kitchen. He was going to give Wufei his own share of food for the day. There was probably only enough left for another week, so it needed to be used sparingly.  
  
After putting together a pitiful sandwich, Himitsu went back upstairs. Wufei wasn't there.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Midii carefully climbed out of her perch on the head of Nanashi, her gundam. Nanashi was a gundam created for long-distance combat. With missile launchers and a beam cannon, it was not unlike those used for the original operation meteor. She slid down the arm to make some adjustments to her favorite addition: a bow and arrow. She prided herself on her Gundam, which was always kept in top shape in case of battle. It was the one thing that made her want to continue this war for peace, and the more personal war for a family.  
  
Midii's father had died when she was a young girl. She had taken a spy job to earn some money, but she never paid. Her three little brothers had been killed when an MS battle had gotten too close to her village only nine months later.  
  
She lifted her head when she heard hurried footsteps pounding on the metal floor. Wufei stopped dead when he realized what was being kept in the large room.  
  
"What the.." Midii laughed at Wufei's state of stupor, and leapt down from her perch.  
  
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" She looked up at Nanashi, then back at Wufei.  
  
"That's a gundam.." Midii put her hand on her Gundam.  
  
"His name is Nanashi." Wufei snorted at this remark.  
  
"Isn't that kind of redundant? How do you say something's name is 'no name'?" Midii smiled at the boy and leaned against the wall.  
  
"You're one of the first people to notice that." Midii decided to follow through with Himitsu's plan, and make Wufei feel like he could trust. She walked over to the next Gundam. "This is Kod?. This was modeled off of Sandrock Kai, but has been greatly improved." Wufei's gaze shifted over to the third MS in the hanger. "That would be Ukiyo." The Gundam had a long pole in one hand, but looked to be built for speed more than anything else.  
  
"Transitory world. Why would a gundam be named that?" The smile Midii had forced into place slipped from her face.  
  
"It describes the life of a soldier, ne? Himitsu certainly has a firm grasp on reality." Wufei laughed to himself.  
  
"He does have a point." Midii shook her head, then picked her laptop up off of the ground.  
  
"I have to get back to work. You can look around a bit if you'd like, just don't get in my way." With that said, Midii scaled Nanashi until she was sitting on the head again, then began to run tests on the optics. When she looked up a few minutes later, Wufei was gone. "Hm, he's an interesting boy. I would have expected him to take off in one of the gundams. He's a smart one.."  
  
To be continued...  
  
Mel: -_- Zzzzzzz  
  
Tsuru: .  
  
Naki: *is bouncing off the walls, as usual* Melly fell asleep!  
  
Tsuru: She hasn't had a decent meal in two days..  
  
Mel: *wakes up* Nani?  
  
Tsuru: And it's not helping her writing..  
  
Mel: The chapter's over. Go home now and let me sleep.  
  
Tsuru: Why don't you eat dinner first?  
  
Mel: *shakes head* I'm not hungry.  
  
Chris: *poofs in* That means: "I desperately need something to eat!" *poofs out*  
  
Mel: *blinks twice* Nani?  
  
Kat: *poofs in* Mel, what have you had to eat today?  
  
Mel: *thinks* Uhh.. A stick of gum..  
  
Kat: *slaps head* You baka. You're going to eat something right now! *begins to drag the half asleep Mel down the stairs*  
  
Mel: :::complains::: But I'm not hungry.. Really.. I'm fine..  
  
Naki: CookiecookiecookiecookiecookiecookiecookiecookiecookieCOOKIE!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Tsuru: *sighs* I think you've had a little too much to eat.  
  
Naki: ?.?  
  
Mel: *can be heard complaining from downstairs* But Kaaaaat! I haven't even gotten to beg for reviews yet! I didn't get to apologize for such a short chapter! I didn't get to tell them what the Japanese words I used m- *food is shoved into her mouth*  
  
Kat: *from downstairs* Tsuru can do that.  
  
Tsuru: Go look it up for your selves.  
  
Kat: *from downstairs* Tsuru!  
  
Tsuru: *sighs* Fine.. 'ne' at the end of a sentence makes it a question. Kod? means pulse. Nanashi is 'no name'. Ukiyo means 'transitory world', or 'fleeting life', but you knew those already. Nakushita Meish? is actually made up of two Japanese words. Nakushita is lost, and Meish? is name, or title. That might become important later. Himitsu means secret, but Honma is just a last name Mel found somewhere online.  
  
Mel: *from downstairs* What about Midii!  
  
Tsuru: Midii Une is the girl from Trowa's episode zero. If you haven't read it, go do so or you will be lost.  
  
Naki: *sits down* I'm tired... *falls asleep*  
  
Tsuru: *raises eyebrows* I never thought that would happen.. 


	6. Chapter 6, plea for help from Mel!

Mel: Okay, I know this is short… but I suck at writing these slow parts… as soon as I get past this bit of setup, I should be able to get things out a little bit faster…..

Tsuru: *walks past door* Mel, what on earth are you doing?

Mel: I'm _trying_ to write. *glares at Tsuru* And what have you been doing?

Tsuru: *blushes*

Mel: *pales* Scratch that… I don't want to know….

Legal Crap: See the last few chapters

Warnings: This is a sad excuse for a chapter. Someone needs to help me get past the slow part! I'll be willing to let some of you in on the next few parts if you'll help! *eyes twinkle* Onegai?

Mel: Now, on with this little blurb!

Duo is sick, chapter 6

Quatre woke up in his cold room, and wrapped the blankets around himself tighter. He hated being cold, especially when he was trying to sleep. After a few minutes of hopeless tossing and turning, Quatre turned to look at the clock. "5:20… I guess it wouldn't hurt to be up a little early…." So saying, Quatre slipped into a pair of jeans and a sweater, then headed downstairs to get something to eat.

"Quatre?" Quatre turned to see who had called him, and saw Kate at the top of the steps.

"Good morning Kate. How are you feeling?" Kate closed her eyes and wavered on her feet. "Kate?" The small girl put her hand against the wall, and began to lean against it.

"I…M-my head….. hurts…." Quatre raced up the steps and picked up the small girl. She held on to him weakly. Quatre's eyes widened as he felt something shoot through his mind. For some reason he _knew_ that Kate was diabetic, and that she had taken too much insulin.

"Hang on Kate. I'll get you something to eat." Quatre raced into the kitchen, and pulled a glass down from the cabinet. He opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice, then poured it into the glass. "Drink this." Kate wrapped her shaking hands around the glass, and took a sip. More of the orange juice had splashed out of her glass than had gotten into her mouth. Quatre reached out and held the glass for her while she drank the rest.

"Th-thank you…" Kate smiled slightly, and leaned her head against Quatre. "I feel a little better now…" Quatre simply held on to the girl, and waited for the sugar to kick in. He was going to have to call Sally again. Maybe she could bring them some insulin for the girl.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Trowa gently slid off of the couch, and walked into the kitchen. Quatre was sitting in a chair holding Kate on his lap. His head was slightly bowed, and his breathing was slow. Trowa chuckled to himself. He had fallen asleep. He decided that if Quatre were to sleep too long in that position, he would get stiff, so Trowa placed his hand on the shoulder of the blond Arab, and gently shook him awake.

"Hmm? Trowa?" Quatre looked up, then down at Kate. "I fell asleep, didn't I?" Trowa smiled, then ran his fingers along Kate's forehead.

"Yes, but you weren't the only one." Quatre nodded slightly, then put his fingers to the girls wrist. "Is something wrong?" Quatre smiled, then looked up at Trowa.

"No, she's perfectly fine. Just asleep." Trowa opened his mouth to ask a question, but Quatre answered it before it could leave his lips. "She's a diabetic, and she had an overdose of insulin. That's why I came down here." Kate stirred slightly, then opened her eyes.

"Trowa, you shouldn't be up! Go back to bed!" Quatre laughed at Kate's demanding air, then slid his arms off of her so she could get up.

"I promise I won't do anything I can't handle, okay?" Kate considered this, then nodded.

"Alright, but I'm going to keep an eye on you, just to be sure." Quatre laughed, and shook his head. Kate smiled, and slipped upstairs.

"Where are you going? I thought you were going to keep an eye on me?" Kate didn't even turn around to answer Trowa's question.

"Don't worry. I will. You never know when I'm watching, so don't think you can try to pull a Heero." Quatre laughed again at the young girl. He had become very attached to her.

"Why don't you go finish your nap. You still look a little tired." Quatre smiled politely, then nodded.

"That's a good idea. I'll be down a little later." Quatre began to climb the stairs back up to his room.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Wufei sat down on his bed, and stared at the wall. He was becoming very angry with himself that he couldn't figure out what these people wanted with him. Why were they treating him like a guest? More importantly, why did they have gundams?

The Chinese boy flopped backwards and put his arms out to either side of him. 'I need to get out of here.'

_Steal a gundam._

The words were whispered in the back of his mind. He had concidered this option breifly while standing in front of Ukiyo. 'I refuse to steal. I have more honor than that.'

_Would you rather be humiliated as a prisoner?_

He closed his eyes and began to fall asleep. 'Something's not right…'

_They have no one guarding you. All you have to do is make it past Himitsu in the morning, and you're home free._

Wufei drifted off into a light sleep. 'No guards…. I don't like this'

_Freedom. Escape._

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Quatre paused on the way to his room. Heero's laptop had caught his eyes. It had been left open, and was now blinking with a new mission. Quatre walked into the room to read it. They were supposed to break into a newly formed colony and dispose of it. Apparently, the new colony was built to house new weaponry, and would be used in the future as a research center.

Quatre sighed, then opened up the e-mail program. He typed up a reply that was supposedly from Heero, saying that they were unable to complete this mission, and would most likely be out of commission for a week.

"Gomen Heero." There was no way Heero, Duo, or Trowa could pilot their gundams in their current conditions. They needed time to heal first. Though they probably needed at least a month, Quatre would be lucky if he could keep Heero off of missions for two days. A week was the most he could ask.

No longer tired, Quatre went back downstairs to eat.

To be continued?

Mel: I honestly have been working on this… I just don't know how to write the connecting part….

Tsuru: *yawns*

Mel: *glares at Tsuru* And as you can see, my muse hasn't been helping.

Tsuru: Get Naki to help.

Mel: *nods head in direction of the bed* She's hit a sugar crash…

Naki: ~_~ Zzzzzz….

Mel: So… if anyone would be willing to help me, e-mail me at tigger88mw@aol.comKay?

Tsuru: *leaves room*

Mel: Onegai?


	7. Chapter 6 1/2, It can be done!

Mel: Well, you have P-chan to thank for this! *glomps her* She's helped me get back on track! Arigatō gozaimasu!

P-chan: ^^

Duo is Sick, Chapter 6 ½
    
    Mel: It's six and a half because the other one was too short! Not even worth the half of a chapter I gave it… ^_^()

Kate gently picked up the slender black object, cradling it in her arms. Heero was obviously very annoyed by the fact that he didn't have his laptop. Kate had also figured out that if Heero didn't get it back soon, he would injure himself trying to get it.

The little blond girl slid down the stairs and into Wufei's room, where Heero had fallen asleep the night before. She was slightly surprised when she saw Duo in the bed, and Heero sitting in a chair near by, his head slightly bowed and his hands clasped in his lap.
    
    Kate smiled at the sight, and gently placed the laptop on the table top next to the 01 pilot, being careful not to wake either of the two sleeping boys. Heero probably wouldn't think about who got him his laptop, and if he knew, he probably wouldn't express his thanks openly. Kate had been around people like him before, so she understood. In her years of treating soldiers with her father, she had come in contact with all sorts.

With the laptop safely near its owner, Kate slipped out to help Trowa make breakfast. 'Or eat it…' she thought with a giggle, as she inhaled the delicious scent of scrambled eggs.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero's eyes snapped open. Someone had been in the room, and he hadn't noticed. The brown haired boy mentally attacked himself before he saw the laptop on the bedside table.

'Who was in here? Why did they bring me my laptop?' Heero shook off the disturbing thoughts that had cropped up in his mind, and opened the slender black case.

A new message appeared to be in his mailbox, but it had a lock on it, with no place to enter a password. Heero easily cracked the code in less than five minutes, then he opened the message.

__

Be more careful with our connections. Don't leave things unattended to, or we may run into more problems than expected. Find your mission, and make sure 04 doesn't put words into your mouth anymore.

Heero stared at the letter for a few moments, then retrieved the deleted mission. He had previously investigated an unlicensed satellite base, and found that it had connections to OZ. Dr. J had asked to take on the rest of the research to find out what was planned. Now, Heero and the other three available pilots were to obliterate the base as soon as possible. There was a warning stating that there would be a fleet of MS guarding the small colony, and there was at least one new model to be on the lookout for.

After a few moments, Heero gained access to the reply Quatre had sent, refusing the mission. The forgery had been perfect except for one thing: Heero Yuy _never_ refuses a mission. It was his job to follow all orders. Dissent was _not_ an option. Quatre needed to be taught a lesson, just like Heero had been taught to be a soldier throughout all those years. He had to learn. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Duo pressed his hands to his throbbing head, trying to relieve some of the pain. It hadn't helped him any when Heero snapped his laptop closed, sending vibrations through the braided boy's body.

Duo opened his violet eyes in time to see Heero leave the room. His mind nearly shattered in pain at the commotion that was about to occur. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Quatre put his fork down, his eyes widening in fear.

"Quatre?" Both Kate and Trowa looked at him, concerned. "Daijobu?" Quatre didn't answer. Instead, he turned to face Heero, standing in the doorway. The blond boy could feel the rage pouring through the perfect soldier, even though his body movements gave nothing away.

"You invaded my privacy." Heero walked further into the room, until he stood directly above the small Arab.

"Heero, I—"

"You invaded my privacy, and then you impersonated me." Before Quatre had a chance to reply, he had been lifted out of his chair, and slammed into a wall. Heero clamped his hand around the other boy's neck, and lifted him a few inches before whispering into his ear, "Traitor."

Quatre coughed slightly in an effort to open his windpipe, put Heero's death-grip didn't loosen. When Trowa leaped out of his chair to help, Heero slipped his gun out of his pocket, and aimed it between the two emerald eyes, glistening with concern.

"Heero," Quatre managed to choke out. He could feel his mind slipping from lack of oxygen, and his vision was blurring horribly. He closed his eyes, and felt something click in his head.

'Stop it! You're killing him!' Heero's voice echoed through Quatre's limp body, seeping into the corners of his consciousness.

'He needs to learn. There is no excuse for what he did.'

'Let him go! He's your friend! There's no need for this! Put him down!' Quatre curiously listened to Heero's mental battle before slipping a level further.

Quatre felt himself inside Heero's mind now, instead of the other way around. Heero felt the new presence, and dropped Quatre in surprise. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Duo watched as Quatre's head slammed into the floor. "What the Hell is wrong with you! You could have killed him!" Duo ran up to Heero, ignoring the throbbing pain throughout his body, and shoved the gun away from Trowa. "Heero! Look at me!" His last action had completely thrown off Duo's sense of balance, and he gripped onto Heero's arms to stay upright.

"Hmmm….. Can someone help me up?" Quatre's voice was groggy and soft. Duo twisted his head to watch as Trowa offered his hand to the blond youth. "Arigatō…" Once on his feet, Quatre shook his head a few times, tousling his soft pale hair.

"Quatre…" Heero looked at the boy he had almost killed with lost eyes. Trowa stepped into his line of sight, silencing him.

"Just leave. We'll talk about this later." Heero nodded, and turned to walk away.

"Iiiiaahh!" Duo fell over when Heero moved, sending horrible pain waves through his body. "I-itai…." Kate laughed softly and offered her hand to Duo.

"Need help?" Duo nodded, and took the hand. Before Kate had a chance to react, Duo yanked on her arm, pulling the girl on top of himself. "Aaaai! Leggo!" Kate giggled uncontrollably as Duo began to tickle her mercilessly.

"Duo?" Trowa arched an eyebrow at the two on the floor.

"Not now Trowa. I'm on a mission." Duo tried his best to imitate Heero's monotone voice. "Omae o TICKLE!!!!" The braided boy then renewed his attack on the blond child in his lap. Quatre smiled and sat back down in his chair. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"A-Are you alright?" Trowa asked, unsure of how to approach the situation.

"Hai." The blond boy picked up his empty plate, and walked over to the sink to wash it. "Don't be mad at Heero." Trowa stared at the boy, dumbstruck.

"Don't be mad at Heero? Quatre, he could have killed you!" Quatre shook his head before placing his hand on Trowa's shoulder.

"He wouldn't have. Besides, he's going through more pain than I was." The blond boy put his hand gingerly on his chest, then pressed it against Trowa's. "Try to understand. It wasn't his fault…" Trowa sighed heavily and nodded. He knew what Quatre's gift could do, and he had come to accept that the boy knew the right way to handle most situations.

"Alright. But what do we do—"

"Ack! Quat! Hide me!" Trowa was cut off when Duo flung himself behind the blond boy. Kate giggled and brushed herself off, giving the three boys her sweetest smile. "Don't let her fool you T-man. She's vicious!" Quatre shook his head and Trowa rolled his eyes. Though Duo was only trying to amuse the small girl, he was taking it a bit too far, and at anything but the right time.

"Duo, cut it out." The braided baka put his hand on the counter and tried to get up. He looked as if he was standing on ice, and lost his footing. When Quatre bent down to see if he was alright, Duo flashed everyone a lopsided smile.

"See? She knocked me over with her mind control! She's dangerous!"

"You want help?" Quatre offered his hand to Duo. The grounded boy nodded and grabbed on to it, standing up obediently. The two just stood there for a few minutes, staring at each other. Quatre's eyes widened slightly, and Duo's breathing slowed.

"Quatre? Duo?" The blond boy quickly let go of Duo's hand, and turned to face Trowa.

"I'm going to have a word with Heero now. I'll be back."

"No." Trowa stepped between Quatre and the door, blocking his path. "I don't think that's a good idea." Quatre sighed.

"If you're that worried, you can come too. But I honestly don't think he'll be any danger." 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Quatre quietly opened the room to Heero's room and looked inside. Heero was working at his laptop, ignoring the two boys who had entered.

"H-Heero?" Quatre hesitantly moved further into the room, not quite sure how to approach the fragile boy. "May I talk to you for a moment?" Heero made no sound or movement to acknowledge his friends words. "I-I'm sorry for what happened earlier….." Quatre was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. He could sense the tenseness that enveloped the room. Trowa was a bundle of nerves, prepared to leap into action at the slightest threat. Heero was completely lost, unable to untangle his rational mind from the web of emotions that had formed. "Heero, look at me."

Trowa walked over to Heero, and lifted him out of his chair by the shirt. The perfect soldier was too perplexed to do anything but allow Trowa to continue. "You nearly killed Quatre. And now he's coming up here to apologize for what _you_ did! The least you could do is _listen_ to him!" Heero refused to move, either away from Trowa, or to let on that he had heard.

"Trowa…" Quatre put his hand on Trowa's shoulder, urging him to leave the disoriented boy alone. The tall soldier shrugged him off coldly, completely focused on his victim.

"Let go of me," Heero spoke quietly, being careful not to let his confusion show in his voice. Trowa removed his hand from the green tank-top, and forcefully lifted Heero's head.

"Not until you learn to show your friends the respect they deserve," The uni-banged boy hissed.

"Trowa! Stop it!" Quatre pressed himself between Trowa and Heero, wrapping the shorter of the two in his arms. "Leave him alone…" Trowa stepped back in surprise. He looked on as the blond boy gently ran his hands in comforting circles around Heero's back. The tense boy slowly relaxed, letting his head rest against the fair, soft hair.

Trowa quietly slipped out of the room, feeling as though he were intruding. Quatre smiled once the tall boy had left the room, and proceeded to help Heero untangle his thoughts.

Heero was still suffering from the intense grief of loosing Relena, as well as the anger and guilt towards Quatre. Heero had unsuccessfully tried to bury these emotions, only managing to confuse himself more. Quatre moved one of his hands into Heero's messy brown hair, untangling the dirty threads.

"Gomen nassai…. Gomen nassai…." Heero continued to chant the apology into Quatre's ear, and softly cried. Quatre could tell that Heero wasn't really in control of himself at the moment, and in a few hours, he wouldn't remember this at all. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Midii sat cross-legged in the middle of her tiny room, her laptop on her neatly folded legs. She had been trying to get her new source of information on line for a few days now. But so far, something was interfering that she hadn't planned on. Sighing, she opened her mail to check for assignments.

"Joy…" She muttered, without the least bit of enthusiasm in her voice. They were being sent to 'guard' the colony that contained Midii's satellite. She had been granted soul access to it in order to pinpoint the location of the other five gundams. However, there was 'reason to believe' that the pilots would be attempting to 'obliterate the innocents on the colony'. 

Midii laughed at the wording of the message. It was quite obvious that they had just tried to ice over the fact that they had tipped off the other team that they were up to something, and now it was time to ambush them.

"Ahh… They joy's of war…." Midii had always believed that war had no point, particularly this one. However, as in all wars, you needed to pick a side if you wanted a chance for survival.

"Any news?" Nakushita slid into the room and peered over Midii's shoulder.

"Hai. We've been put on ambush patrol…." Nakushita glared at Midii, and picked the laptop up.

"What are we going to do with the boy?"

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." Nakushita raised an eyebrow at Midii, who just smirked.

"Fine… I'll go tell Himitsu."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

'Great, just what I need… another opportunity for Heero to kill himself….' Though Duo's thoughts about the mission were negative, he acted like his normal Shinigami self, and bragged about how he had turned the field in to scrap metal in the last battle.

"Yeah, including poor Trowa…." Kate laughed at Duo, and gently wrapped her arms around Trowa's chest.

"That… wasn't my fault…." Duo stuttered, trying not to show his uneasiness.

"He's right. I hadn't expected there to be other gundams…." Everyone turned to face Trowa, wide eyed and jaws dropped.

"What?!?"

"That's why I couldn't defeat them… I was up against three new gundams."

"Are you sure?" Duo leaned forward in his chair, anxious to learn more.

"I'm positive. I don't think anything but Gundanium could put up with those attacks…"

"Do you think they put one at the base?" Quatre looked over at Heero, afraid of what the answer would be.

"I don't think they would waste such a weapon on that little colony, but it's something to be prepared for."

"Great! I wanna have a go at those guys! No one can withstand the wrath of Shinigami!" Duo leaped up out of his chair and struck a pose for the others.

"Duo, this isn't something to joke about." Heero's stone cold voice didn't dim Duo's enthusiasm for a moment.

"I'm dead serious! If those guys think they can hurt my buddy and get away with it, they've got another thing commin!" Duo punched at the air, making Kate giggle. He flashed her his trademark smile and made another swing, purposefully making it look like he missed and fell forward with the aftermath of his punch.

"Baka..." Heero muttered under his breath, trying to hide his amusement.

"Hey Trowa! I think I can solve your Gundam problem! Come with me to the hanger, will ya?" Duo spun around to face Trowa and grinned.

"Alright…." Trowa slowly sat up, giving Kate a chance to move off of his lap. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Trowa, answer me this. WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU _TELL_ ME THERE WERE GUNDAMS!!!!!!!" Once away from Kate, Duo let loose the question that had been bothering him since he had heard about what happened to Trowa. "I would have helped you! You know that!"

"Exactly." Trowa looked up at Deathscythe Hell and frowned. "It would have been pointless for both of us to lose our gundams." Duo's jaw dropped in surprise at how calmly Trowa had said this.

"What the _HELL _WHERE YOU THINKING!!!!!! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!!!"

"I know. But it's better than both of us." Duo lost his voice for a moment, but he barely noticed since he couldn't think of anything to say. "Now what am I going to do for this next mission?"

"…. Y—you…. I was going to suggest you take Altron….. You know how to pilot it.… and I'm sure Wufei wouldn't mind…." Duo didn't try to yell at Trowa for changing the subject. There was nothing more to say…. For now.

"That would work… for now…" Trowa nodded absently, before turning to leave.

"I'm not done yet. I still want to know…." Duo's legs felt like jelly beneath him, and he wavered dangerously close to the edge of the platform. "…wh-why don't you and Heero care….." Duo lost his footing completely and fell to the ground with a metallic thud.

"Duo?" Trowa ran over to Duo and picked him up.

"….care if you die….." Duo's eyes slid shut, plunging him into total darkness. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Wufei was already awake when Himitsu walked into the room, but decided that it would be in his best interest if he appeared to be asleep. Wufei kept his breathing slow and even and let all of his muscles relax.

"I know you're awake." Wufei growled inwardly as he sat up in his bed.

"What do you want now?"

"I simply came to inform you that we have no food to spare for breakfast. None of us are eating." Himitsu sat down on the bed beside Wufei and handed him a small white bundle. "However, I saved you your dinner from last night." Wufei stared at the pitiful meal, before reluctantly taking it. "You'll feel better after you eat."

'Not that he really cares,' Wufei thought as he took a bite of his sandwich. He had decided to play along with his captors until he found an opportunity to escape. With such loose guarding, he would probably have only one chance.

"I have some business to take care of, so I'll leave you now." When Himitsu turned around to leave, Wufei leaped on top of him, knocking them both to the ground. With grace equal to Trowa's, the boy flipped forward and ran down the hall, remembering the way to the hanger.
    
    Ukiyo was the Gundam that had caught the Chinese boy's eyes as being the most appropriate to escape. Quickly scaling the beautiful object of war, Wufei slid into the cockpit. His well thought out escape plan completely escaped him when he saw the almost empty room.
    "What in the gods names is this?" The metal room was almost a perfect dome. A set of gloves and a helmet hung from the top with wires, and a large sphere was buried most of the way into the floor. Almost immediately after he had spoken, the helmet moved overtop of him and covered his head.
    A warm black haze enveloped his senses, blocking him from the outside world. When Wufei reached up to take the helmet off, he felt liquid fire rushing through his veins, filling him with unbearable pain.
    "Midii, don't turn that off. He'll be lost inside the computer." Himitsu's voice sounded fuzzy and distant, but still sent trills of pain through the poor boy's head. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
    
    Himitsu dragged Midii into the cockpit of Ukiyo, knowing that the young boy had entered it. Wufei was slumped against the wall, wires wrapped around his neck and waist.
    "First get the wires off of him. I'll try to disconnect him from the system." Ukiyo's operating system was much different than anything else. It had been based on the Zero system, and modified to give the pilot complete control of the MS. The movements and thought patterns of the pilot controlled the suit, improving reaction time and flexibility. The problem was, like the Zero system, very few people had the ability to handle the system. In addition, the MS would only let a specific few pilot it, rejecting all others. Wufei was one of the lucky ones, he hadn't been killed on contact.
    "What's it doing to this one?" Midii gently brought Wufei to the ground and watched as his eyes fluttered aimlessly in his head.
    "I can't be sure…. Kuso! Midii, help me break this code. It won't let me in." Midii picked up her laptop and attached it to the main computer. After a few moments of grumbling, her eyes lit up in surprise.
    "It's giving him access to the data files…. No… it's recording his thoughts?" Himitsu looked at Midii in surprise before shutting the computer down.
    "His mind is his alone. Let's get him out of here." Wufei looked around slightly once the helmet was off his head before passing out from the stress of the system.
    "He was lucky…"

"Hai…."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

A/N From here till the end of the chapter is the fist part I ever wrote. You can thank this little spark for this mess of a story. Oh, and thank P-chan too! She helped me get here!

Duo woke up with a gut feeling that something was wrong. First off, he couldn't remember falling asleep, or how he got in his room, for that matter. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't move at all. He felt numb all over.

'Damn' he thought to himself. 'I guess I'm going to have to tell them I'm sick.' He tried to call out Heero's name, but he couldn't get his mouth to move. Duo's head rolled lazily to the side, and he began to feel fuzzy. Tiny pinpricks covered his entire body, and he felt like he was sinking into the bed. He lost the ability to judge distances as his eyes blurred, then came into focus again. He moved his head again, which sent a jolt of pain down his spine. Quatre was standing in the doorway, a look of concern on his face.

"Are you alright? You look sick." Duo stared at Quatre for a moment, trying to find the strength to speak.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just hungry." He forced himself out of bed, and started to walk towards the kitchen. Quatre didn't try to stop him, he just looked on with the same worried face.

Duo swayed slightly when he walked, so he put a hand on the wall to keep himself steady. He got to the staircase and looked down, they seemed to be twice as long as usual. He took one step forward, and missed the stair, sending him head first down the steps. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero was headed upstairs with the excuse of working on his laptop. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was worried about Duo. He knew he was sick, and too stubborn to admit it, and that worried him. 

'What if Duo has that virus? If he doesn't calm down, it could kill him. I don't think I would be able to live with myself if that happened…' Heero stopped. 'no. I can't let myself get close to him. Such emotions only bring pain, and are distractions to the mission.'

'Stop fooling yourself. The only reason you're scared is because you don't want to hurt Duo…'

'Hurt Duo?' The words echoed through his mind. Yes, he didn't want to hurt Duo. He couldn't let himself get close to him, it would only bring pain. Heero turned the corner just in time to catch a very disoriented Duo in his arms.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Duo grinned weakly at Heero. "Never knew ya felt that way 'bout me." He pulled himself up slowly. Heero frowned

"You're sick. Go get some rest. If you push yourself too hard, you won't be able to fight." Duo's joints burned, and he felt very cold.

"I'm fine. Stop worrying about me and get yourself ready for the big mission tomorrow." He took one step toward the kitchen, then stumbled Heero grabbed him under his arms to steady him, then looked him straight in the eyes.

"Go to bed." Duo studied Heero's eyes, trying to see what emotions he was hiding. The silver in his blue eyes was swirled, and seemed to glow. That always meant that Heero was scared, but why? Why was Heero worried about him? He just had a stupid cold…

"I told you, I'm find. I just…" Duo paused. His head felt fuzzy, and he couldn't think. He put his hand to his head and closed his eyes, trying to sort through his thoughts, to remember what he was saying. 

"Stop fooling yourself. You can barley stand, your eyes are blood shot, and you're as pale as a ghost." Duo's knees gave way, and he slumped against Heero's chest. He could just barely feel the warm arms wrap around him, and lift him into the air.

"…fine, really…" The soft, rhythmic movement of Heero's walking comforted Duo, and he allowed himself to close his eyes.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

'Duo, you idiot. You pushed yourself too hard. I'm not going to let you go on the mission tomorrow.'

'But you need him. If he doesn't go, you'll probably get killed'

'If he goes, then he'll die'

'then abort the mission.'

'I can't do that, We'll have to go without him.'

'You know he'll do everything he can to go with you'

'I know that, but I can't let him go this time. I can't loose him…' again, Heero had let his emotions surface. He couldn't let himself do that. He had to focus on the mission, but he still wasn't going to let Duo get himself killed.

"Is he alright?" Quatre asked as Heero passed him in the hall.

"He'll be fine, he's just exhausted. Go make him some soup for when he wakes up, he hasn't eaten all day."

"Aright, I'll be back." And with that, he left the room. Heero gently placed Duo on his own bed. He was very pale and very cold, but what worried Heero the most was that he was too light. How long had he been sick? Days? Weeks?

'He needs to see a doctor.'

'We can't now, everyone is a potential enemy.'

'But what if he has the virus?'

'If he has the virus, all they would do is keep him in bed, make sure he eats, and pump him full of pain relieving drugs.'

'At least he couldn't go on the mission'

'He isn't going on the mission, and if he has any sense in that tiny thing he calls a brain, then he'll know that.'

'He'll also know that you'll try to stop him, but he will try to come anyway.' Heero looked at Duo, his breathing was forced, and in quick gulps.

"Duo…" Heero said. He pushed Duo's bangs off of his forehead. Duo let out a sigh and shuddered. He was very cold. He needed to warm up or his body would go into shock. Heero retrieved all of the extra blankets in the house, as well has his own, and covered Duo with them.

"Thanks…" Duo said. He turned over onto his back and smiled at Heero. Quatre walked in with some hot minestrone, Duo's favorite. He propped himself up and ate half the bowl before he fell asleep again. Quatre took the soup back to the kitchen to store it. Heero decided that it would be a good idea if he stayed with Duo for the night. He pulled up a chair and leaned against the wall. He was soon fast asleep.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Duo woke up with a start. 'Oh shit! The mission' He looked around, trying to see what time it was, looking for some sign that they didn't leave without him. He saw Heero right next to him, asleep in a chair. Had he been there all night? Duo decided that if he was going to go on the mission, he would have to leave right then, before Heero could stop him. Duo edged out of bed as quietly as possible and left the room. As he passed the kitchen, he realized how hungry he was, and grabbed a box of donuts and a glass of orange juice to eat as he left. Duo decided that because he was supposed to be the first one there anyway, leaving a few hours early couldn't hurt. He finished his pitiful breakfast and climbed into the cockpit of DeathscytheHell. The fact that he might be too sick to handle the Gundam never occurred to him…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero woke up at 6:00 on the dot, just like every other morning. But today, he was the last one to wake up. He looked beside him, expecting to see the sleeping figure of the braided pilot, but the bed was empty.

'Duo left already. He decided to start the mission early.'

'How long has he been gone? He could be in trouble?'

'If Duo's in trouble, it'll be no one's fault but…'

'Mine. It will be my fault. I let him get out, I didn't stop him… I'll have killed the one person that ever meant anything to me…'

'Stop attacking yourself. It wasn't your fault, Duo isn't dead yet. Now go complete the mission..'

'I killed Duo, just like I killed Relena. Now both of them are gone, and it's all my fault…'

'Stop that! Duo isn't dead yet. Nothing was your fault! Now go get Duo before he gets hurt!' Heero went down to the kitchen and found a note attached to the fridge.

__

Heero,

We've gone to get Duo, Trowa told me not to wake you, that you'd be of more use to us after a good night's rest. When you wake up, go through with the mission as planned. We'll take care of Duo.

Quatre

Heero clutched the note in his hand as he raced for his gundam. 'Doctor J was right, I should never get close to anyone. It only brings them and me pain. It would be better for both of us if I were killed in this battle, it would save Duo from more suffering than he had to go through.'

'You can't just leave the other pilots. Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, they need you. And you know damn well that Duo is on the brink of insanity. If he looses someone else close to him, especially you, he would probably take his own life. You know you can't do that to him.'

'I killed Duo, and now I have to pay. At the end of this mission, I am going to kill myself, and rot in the depths of hell for the things I've done.'

'You know that killing yourself is only going to make yourself feel better. By taking your life, you'll only force your pain onto Duo. He won't be able to cope with that. You can't do that to him!!! You can't…' Though the voice in Heero's mine screamed at him, begging him to spare himself, he had made up his mind. At the end of the mission, he would be dead. It didn't matter to him if he were killed, or he killed himself, just as long as he was good and dead…

To be continued…

Mel: ^____^ I did good! I did good! Now don't expect anymore from me until I've had a half decent weekend to work on it. Maybe the rest will come out in short bursts like this….

Tsuru: Or maybe she's just going to make you wait another 2 months.

Mel: You're one to talk! You didn't help at all!

Tsuru: *shrugs*

Mel: REVIEW!!!!! NOW!!!! OR FACE THE WRATH OF DUO!!!!!! *imitates Duo* Omae o TICKLE!!!!! ^________^


	8. Chapter 7, at long last! I've written a ...

Mel: *grins* Hiyas!

Tsuru: Finally….

Mel: *glares at Tsuru* Yeah… you finally got off your lazy ass and helped me type.

Tsuru: What about the new kid?

Mel: Who? Daichi? He's busy trying to put together the next chapter for Kioku Soshitsu. He's now officially in charge of that one.

Tsuru: Joy….

Mel: *sighs* Fine… let's just cut to the chase….

Legal Crap: Don't own it. Got it? Good. 

Lawyers: ….

Mel: Grr…. WHY CAN'T I GET RID OF YOU!!!!!

Lawyers: Eep! *run away*

Mel: ^___^ Well, that was easy enough….

Tsuru: *sighs*

Warnings: Remember what was said in chapter one? *holds up the oversized rant on no yaoi or shounen ai* This is what I think of it… *rips it up into little pieces* I'm sick of finding loopholes. From now on, anything goes. I don't think there's any direct shounen ai in this chapter, but I'm sure as hell gonna imply it! I can tell you this, it will be 3x4 because I already cut off my chances for anyone with Wufei or Heero…… Oh well…. 

Mel: On with the fic!!!!!! *beams*

****

Duo is sick, chapter 7

Duo cried out in pain as he was thrown against the control panel, his head crashing into the monitor, shattering the glass and exposing bare wires.

"Heh, you call that a hit?" Duo taunted as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Even with no one else around, he had to keep up this facade. Every muscle in his body was on fire, and the itching in his head had returned. He could get it to go away if he tried, but then he would get a horrible headache. It was best to put up with the annoyance.

Another MS seemingly appeared out of nowhere and began to relentlessly attack DeathscytheHell. Duo managed to focus enough to slice the thing in two before he could do any more damage to his Gundam.

"Who's next? Just try to hit me!" Almost as soon as the words escaped his lips, the MS stopped attacking, and backed off. "What's wrong? Afraid of Shinigami?" Another stupid mistake, he had let his guard down again.

Electricity visibly traced its way across the shell of DeathscytheHell, like fingers trying to pry the demonic angel apart. The deadly digits spread from a long shaft, now pressed through the gundam's midsection, just missing the cockpit and self-detonation explosive. Duo did nothing but stare as his attacker slowly extracted the long metal rod.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Midii watched on with little interest as Himitsu backed away from the 02 gundam. She was hoping for a challenge to test her skills, but it was obvious that this pilot was in no shape for battle. After being released, DeathscytheHell made no move to attack. 

"Weakling." The thought wasn't directed at anyone in particular. Midii wasn't even sure if she was talking about the idiot pilot. She was just fed up with this useless battling. They had been sent to ambush people who didn't come. Everything was so annoying.

"Snap out of it, Une. We have visitors." Midii smiled at Nakushita's gruff order, before turning to face the newly arrived Sandrock and Altron.

"Finally…" Midii looked over the two gundams quickly, sizing up the situation. "We're missing one."

"Meisho can be on guard for it. Watch this one while you're at it." Himitsu gently pushed away from the seemingly dead gundam. "I'll take care of the 04. Une, you take 03." With the official orders out, the battle had begun.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Without warning, the new gundams began to attack. They seemed to have picked targets already, which left Quatre and Trowa at a disadvantage. "Trowa! What do we do about Duo?" After a period of static, and a few sloppily avoided attacks, Trowa answered.

"Leave him alone for the time being. The blow didn't puncture the cockpit, and these people don't seem to be doing anything to hi––" He stopped in mid sentence as his attacker fired with a hidden blaster.

"Trowa! Are you alright?" Quatre scrambled to help, but was too busy with his own problem. The gundam before him thrust his stick at him, but Quatre parried the blow, knocking himself further away from his friends. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Trowa twisted to the side, not yet used to Altron's controls. The gundam in front of him was the same one that had destroyed Heavyarms, and was promising to be a tough opponent.

The dragon fang launched out to grab at the gundam, but it moved before it could latch on. Trowa gasped in surprise as a beam narrowly missed him and hit his opponent square in the chest.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Trowa. Where's Duo?" Heero tried to hide his fear as he asked the question. Trowa popped up on his vid-screen and sighed.

"He was hit pretty badly. We haven't heard from him since we got here." Heero scanned the area for anything that looked remotely like Duo's gundam. He found it and began to fly towards it.

Zero screamed in his head that something was behind them. Heero instinctively shot at the supposed danger, saving his life. An MS had taken advantage of Heero's distracted state and tried to strike. The blade on his left arm had been broken by the blast, giving Heero the upper hand. Heero watched for a moment, trying to get an idea of what his opponent's strategy was so he could beat him. He couldn't figure it out….

The offending Gundam started by attacking violently with his good blade. Strike after strike was dodged and returned, but every offence Heero made was blocked.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

'What is he doing? Is he trying to miss?' Quatre tried desperately to figure out his assailant's plan before he was put in a position where he couldn't win.

"Quatre? Where are you?"

"I've lost sight of you… I don't know which way to go, I've spun around so much…"

'That's it!' Quatre's mind finally began to grasp the situation with total comprehension. 'He's trying to separate us so we can't work together.' Quatre could now see why each blow was directed oddly. Each one was meant simply to move him to another position. If he continued this, his enemy would surely use the opening to attack. The next blow was set so he could easily dodge it, but then he would leave himself wide open for another attack. Instead, he decided to take the hit and use the opportunity to strike.

His blade cut through the metal on the side of the gundam as his other arm was run through, making it unusable. But his sacrifice was worth it, for the wiring that controlled the entire right side of his foe was severed. He had won.

"I don't want to hurt you. Please tell me, who are you?" Quatre opened a connection with the gundam he had just disabled. He didn't get a video picture back, but there was sound.

"We're just soldiers doing our job. You should get your friends out of here before we kill you as ordered."

"But—" Before Quatre could finish his sentence, the gundam in front of him struck with his pole, now transferred to his good hand.

'How on earth did he do that? His actions are too smooth… to human-like…. Unless…." Quatre gasped as he realized what should have cost him his life. The pilot had been hooked up to the prototype system he had helped design. It was supposed to allow the pilot to control the MS using their mind. He thought that the project had been terminated after he left and refused to fund it.

"Don't make me hurt you. Please…" Quatre continued to dodge the attacks. He was afraid that if he damaged the MS any further, the pilot would feel pain as if it were his own body being attacked. Unless the plans had been modified, Quatre had cut the connections that should have kept that from happening when he disabled the right side.

His foe continued to attack, and Quatre continued to dodge, hoping that he wouldn't have to fight back. He had been the first test for the first version, and that system could be worse then death…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Himitsu!" Nakushita growled as he watched his lover's status plummet on the moniter to the side. If he didn't get out of battle soon, his body would shut down. It could take him as long as 3 months to recover from that….. if he recovered….

He quickly focused his anger on his opponent, using his rage to increase his speed and strength. After being in a cold stale mate for countless long minutes, Nakushita finally began to hit his target. Using a random combination of guns and his blade, he had managed to thoroughly confuse the 01 pilot. He was lucky to be stuck with him, because the pilot had access to the Zero system. The problem was, the zero system predicted the next most likely move based on the pilot's strategic methods. Nakushita fought with his heart rather than his head. Although Himitsu had always lectured him about that, and he had gotten into countless problems because of it, it was now saving his life.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero was tired of his opponents blind attacks, and set up a quick blast to catch him off guard. Once the gundam had flown a good distance away from him, Heero turned his attention to the unmoving DeathscytheHell floating not too far away from him.

"Duo. Are you operational?" Duo had always made fun of Heero's way of phrasing 'are you alright?'. He always complained that it made it sound like he was talking to a piece of machinery instead of a person.

"…H-Heero…." Heero nodded to himself, relieved that Duo was still alive.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"….H-Heero…." Duo forced his mind to wake up. He wasn't too happy with the results. His muscles burned from fatigue, and he was seeing double. Not to mention, his head hurt like hell. One of the first things he realized when his mind was working halfway normaly was that he was in the cockpit of his gundam.

'Shit! I fell asleep in the middle of a battle! What the hell's wrong with me?' Duo turned his attention to the battle outside. One of the new gundams Trowa had been talking about was charging up a mean looking gun, and Zero wasn't moving out of the way… 'God! What's Heero doing? Does he want to get himself killed?' Duo mentally slapped himself. 'Of course. That baka is always trying to pull a stunt like that…'

"…H-Heero…. move…." Duo's voice wouldn't come out like he wanted it to. Heero wouldn't be able to hear him, not that he would listen if he could. Duo quickly sized up the situation. He could move in time to attack the thing trying to kill Heero…if he could move….

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Aaaaaah!" Quatre cried out as a sudden pain overtook his body. His chest felt like someone was trying to pull him backward by his sternum. He let out a whoosh of air as his lungs emptied under the pressure. Duo…. it was Duo…. Quatre had to get to him…

The blond boy reversed the direction of his boosters and flew over in the direction he knew Duo was in as fast as he could. He arrived in time to watch DeathscytheHell's long green blade disappear into another Gundam's arm, severing it completely. As soon as the deed was done, the eyes flickered off, and Quatre felt the pain inside him diminish. He was anything but releived.

"Duo! Duo! Are you alright?" Quatre knew his voice couldn't be heard by the braided boy even before he said anything. But he didn't know what else to do.

"Quatre. Calm down." Trowa sounded quieter then usual as he tried to calm his friend down.

"But he's…. Oh God, what if he's—"

"Leave. We won't go after you. Get your friend the help that he needs and we'll continue this later." Quatre blinked as the voice that had threatened to kill him now gave him and his friends a safe exit.

"T-thank you… I won't forget your kindness…" Quatre then headed to help Heero connect Duo's gundam to his own so they could transport it home.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Once safely landed in the hanger, Trowa followed Quatre and Heero to check on Duo's health. Quatre was literally bouncing on his heals, unable to keep still as the door to the cockpit slowly opened.

"My god….." Duo was barely sitting in his chair, his head resting on his shoulder. His eyes were wide and empty. They looked almost like twin cameras, looking out into the world, but not able to process the information they collected.

Quatre sunk to his knees and put his head down on Duo's lap. His hands shook for a few moments before he went still. His breathing was so shallow that if you had looked at him, you would have thought him dead.

"Q-Quatre?" Trowa put his hand on the said boy's shoulder, trying to snap him out of his state. It unnerved Trowa to see him like that… to see either of them like that. It just wasn't right….

"I'm alright Trowa…. Let's just find Duo a bed. Then we can try to figure out what's wrong with him….." Trowa looked to Heero, who nodded. Trowa suddenly found himself wondering what was going on in the mind of the perfect soldier. Heero's expression was normal, but his eyes held a strong sense of self blame. No one seemed to be themselves at the moment…. and nothing seemed to be going well for them…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Himitsu? Are you alright?" Nakushita slipped into the cockpit of Ukiyo, wanting to help his koi. He was surprised to see the blue haired boy leaning against the wall, still hooked up to the system. "Mitsu-koi, do you want help?"

"….yes….." Himitsu's voice was quiet, but clearly heard. Nakushita carefully took the many patches attached to his love's fair skin. When he finally removed the helmet, Himitsu's legs gave way under him. Nakushita caught him under the arm and allowed him to use him as a human crutch. "….tired….."

"I know…. You shouldn't have fought so hard. You need to learn when to back off."

"..….you too….." Nakushita laughed softly as he brought his lover to his room where he wouldn't be disturbed.

To be continued….

Mel: And that's that for now. I'm sorry it wasn't as long as some of the other chapters, but I've discovered that I can get things out quicker if I don't feel obligated to write extremely long chapters….

Tsuru: I still don't believe you're going to keep this pace up.

Mel: *sticks tongue out* Why don't you put your money where your mouth is?

Tsuru: Because I already lost $40 that way….

Mel: *gasps* She learns!


	9. Chapter 8

Mel: *chants* Shounen Ai! Shounen Ai! Shounen Ai! Shounen Ai! Shoune—

Tsuru: *smacks Mel on the back of the head* Cut it out.

Mel: Itai! That hurt!

Tsuru: Quit chanting and do something productive.

Mel: *sighs* fine…

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing anime related. *thinks* Wait… I do have the Ground Zero and Blind Target manga…. And the first five episodes on DVD… and—

Tsuru: Cut it out.

Mel: *pouts*

Warning: We have officially added shounen ai. 3+4 pairing. No citrus involved. If you want that, you'll have to wait for another fic. I don't want to screw up the plot any more than I intended to….

Tsuru: Now get to work before you get yourself hurt.

Mel: ?.? Get myself hurt?

Tsuru: *cracks knuckles*

Mel: O.O Hai! *gets to work*

Kate was standing next to the door when Quatre opened it to let Heero, Trowa, and Duo through. The girl didn't seem surprised by Duo's state at all. She simply moved to the side so she wouldn't be in the way.

"Do you know what happened to him, Quatre?" Kate looked upwards as she asked her question. Quatre knelt down beside her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not sure. I think you know about as much as I do. Am I right?" Kate nodded slightly at this.

"I saw the end of the fight. He just slumped back into the chair after he attacked…" Quatre sat down completely on the floor, his legs crossed. He was both mentally and physically exhausted from the events that had taken place, and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. "He was in pain, wasn't he?" Quatre nodded slightly before letting his head drop down, too tired to hold it up. "Why don't you go to bed? Much more comfortable than the floor, don't you think?" Quatre laughed then forced himself to his feet.

"Maybe I'll do that later… but I have work to do…." Kate sighed as she watched Quatre walk up the stairs, putting most of his weight on the railing. "He needs to start taking care of himself as well as he does for others…."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Quatre ran into something warm and firm on his way to Duo's room. He was so surprised by the impact that he didn't think to keep his balance and almost fell over. If it weren't for the two hands that were quickly placed on his shoulders, he would have fallen backwards down the stairs.

"Quatre?" Trowa asked more questions with that one word than would have been thought possible by anyone else.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Heero grunted, and passed the two boys to find his laptop. He was still limping slightly from his earlier injuries.

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm…" Quatre nodded and wrapped his arms around Trowa, enjoying the warmth of his koi. "I'm just a little tired. I'll go to bed as soon as I see Duo." Trowa ran his hands in slow circles around Quatre's back before letting him go.

"I'm going to help Heero do some research. You can join us when you're ready." Quatre nodded, disappointed that Trowa had to leave.

"Alright." Quatre passed by Trowa and opened the door to Duo's room. The boy was lying flat on the bed, his head turned slightly to the side. His eyes were still open and held their dead look firmly in place. "We'll help you out of this. I promise." Quatre walked into the room a little more and sat down in a chair beside the bed.

So quick to make promises. I wonder if he was saying that to me, or to convince himself it was true… Quatre blinked as the voice passed through his mind. He was sure he hadn't heard it, as Duo hadn't moved. But it was clearly his voice. He decided to take a chance and answer as if it had been said.

"I was talking to you. And I am sure we'll get you out of this. Heero and Trowa are downstairs doing research right now."

Heh, that's funny. For a minute I actually thought he knew what I was thinking… Quatre smiled, now sure that he was hearing Duo's thoughts. Surprisingly, it didn't strike him as odd. After how his kokoro no uchu had been acting up, his hearing Duo's thoughts wasn't out of place.

"I do. I can hear everything." He laughed as he listened to noises of surprise and disbelief coming from the boy's mind.

B-but… but… how?

"I'm not quite sure. I just can."

This is great!!!! Now I won't be bored out of my mind! I'll actually have someone to talk to! Quatre laughed quietly. What's so funny?

"It's just… well… You would think that someone who's been through all you have wouldn't be able to be in such a good mood about something like that."

Eh, well, you know me. That's just how I am.

"Are you alright?"

Well, aside from the fact that I can't feel anything, move anything, or see anything other than what's right in front of me, yeah. I couldn't be better. Quatre sighed and leaned over. You know, you don't look so good.

"Really? How could you tell?" The sarcasm was evident in Quatre's voice as he replied.

Oi, now I know you aren't feeling well. Hmm…. I know! You're tired! You need to get some sleep!

"Hmm… you don't mind if I leave?"

Now I never said that. I just said you need sleep. Quatre laughed again, then forced himself up on his feet. Oi, oi! Where are you going? You're not going to leave me here to die, are you?

"Die? You mean of boredom, don't you?"

Exactly! Do you have any idea how boring this is? I have nothing to do!

"Think. That's what you've been doing with me for the past few minutes." Quatre was quickly becoming grumpy, and wished to take a nap before he lashed out at someone.

Fine. Fine. You do need that nap anyway. Quatre could feel a loss in his head when he cut off Duo from his mind. It hurt a little, but not so much as to keep him from communicating with him again. Quatre was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Midii yawned and walked into the computer room to check on her laptop before she went to get her pitiful excuse for a lunch and eat it. The small black machine beeped furiously, demanding her immediate attention. She sat down in front of it and typed in her password. Instantly, a large file opened up containing anything and everything they could ever want to know about the five gundam pilots.

"It worked! The signal finally got through!" Her experiment had been a success. They now knew where the pilots were staying, and what security precautions they had taken. And if it had worked like it was supposed to, they would have updated information anytime something changed. Midii had successfully bugged the pilots.

Another blip from her computer told her that information had been temporarily stored and she was to evaluate it and delete what was unnecisary. She clicked again, and a recorded scene appeared on the screne. Midii gasped as she watched the people on it, and quickly saved it to her hard drive. She didn't have time to look at it now, but she would certainly make time later. She froze the picture on her moniter before leaving, forgetting to turn it off on her way out. She left the room with one thought in her mind…

'My Nanashi is still alive….'

Mel: *beams* I got that one out fast too!

Tsuru: O.o it's short…

Mel: So what. It's out, and that's all they care about…

Angry readers: WE WANT MORE!!!!!

Mel: O.O Hai! *goes to work on the next chapter before she's trampled by an angry mob*


	10. Chapter 9, shattered beliefs

Mel: Ha ha! At last! I have something to prove wrong the thought that 'the virus thing is really obvious'!!!! I had you all fooled!!!! MWA HA HA HA!!!!

Tsuru: ?.? What are you babbling about?

Mel: I HAVE DONE IT!!!!!

Tsuru: *sighs* You've changed you idea so many times for this story…..

Mel: *looks offended* But Tsuru! I've had this whole thing planned out since chapter 3, and I haven't changed anything since chapter 4! At all! I swear! I've been a good little writer!

Tsuru: *sighs* Cue the—

Legal Crap: ––disclaimer. … . That's the second time you've done that to me! Wait your turn!!!!! And no, we don't own gundam wing. Otherwise this wouldn't be a fanfiction.

Mel: ^_^() Gomen Tsuru, I guess I hit the button a little too—

Warning: ––soon. ?.? Oh…. . Grrrrr…. Bad muse!!! Very _bad_ muse! No warnings for this chapter, asside from some slight Wufei beating…

Mel: But we all love him anyway, don't we?

Wufei fan girls: *scream, then run a rampage through Mel's room*

Mel: No! There's no Wufei here! Now Git!

Wufei fan girls: *pout, sulk off*

Tsuru: O.o 'Git'?

Mel: ^_^() That's what my dad says…

Tsuru: ?.? 'Git'? *continues to try to figure out the ways of the 'git'*

Trowa was skimming down a list of symptoms for the final stages of the virus that had been all over the news for the past week. Heero had book-marked the page earlier, thinking it would be of some use. Each and every one of the symptoms matched Duo's state exactly…. As far as they could tell, at least. There was no way of knowing what types of pain Duo was feeling before he was knocked into his 'trance' as the web-site called it.

"Hey, what did you find?" Quatre walked down the steps, rubbing his eyes after his short nap.

"I think I know what Duo has…" Heero motioned for Quatre to come sit next to him and take a look at his laptop. The boy's eyes widened as he read the symptoms, then read the future of anyone who had reached the 'trance' state: Death. Apparently, it was only treatable in the earlier stages. If anyone lived through it that long without help, they would die within a few days.

"I-I think we should go upstairs to discuss this…" Heero stared blankly at Quatre, unable to find the hidden purpose to his proposed action.

"Why?"

"Well…" Quatre bit his lip, as if unsure of how to continue. "I think Duo should hear what we've found…" Heero sighed, and closed his precious black case to carry up the stairs.

"I don't see any harm in it." Quatre sighed and looked up at Trowa.

"That can't be right. He can't have that virus… it doesn't match…"

"It matches with all of the information we have. All we can do is expect that to happen, and then see how things turn out." Quatre shook his head violently.

"You don't understand. He's still there. He's still so _alive_." Trowa gently brushed the bangs out of Quatre's face, then turned to walk up the stairs.

"Come on. Heero's waiting." Quatre nodded and followed.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero set up his laptop on the desk in Duo's room, then turned to the boy in the bed. He didn't want to have to face the fact that he had lost the two people closest to him in one week, and it was his fault. If he hadn't fallen asleep, Duo wouldn't have gone off to fight, then they might have caught the virus before it had taken over…

Heero was torn from his thoughts as Quatre and Trowa walked into the room. The blond boy took a seat next to the bed, and smiled at Duo before turning back to Trowa, who had decided to stand by the window.

"Heero, could you read me the symptoms, please?" Heero arched an eyebrow at the boy.

"Why? You read them downstairs…"

"Just as a recap. I want to make sure I know exactly what virus you think Duo has." Heero nodded absently and re-opened the site.

"Dizziness…" Quatre laughed slightly, until he noticed that he was getting strange looks from Trowa and Heero, at which point he abruptly stopped. Heero shook his head, and went on to read the rest of the symptoms. "Severe headache, appetite loss, breast pain…" Quatre began laughing again, this time harder than the last. Trowa crossed the few feet separating them, and put his hands on Quatre's shoulders, a look of concern on his face.

"Quatre?"

"I don't think we have to worry about that last one. Go on."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just… a funny thought. That's all." Trowa nodded, but didn't move back to his place near the window. Heero continued.

"Bumps on the skin of neck and shoulders…"

"No." Heero turned around and looked at Quatre.

"No?" He repeated, turning Quatre's statement into a question.

"No. He didn't have those…"

"Oh…" Heero went back to the list.

"Chest pain, with a rash at the pain site…"

"He had chest pain, but no rash."

"No rash? Are you sure?" Quatre nodded in confirmation. Heero decided that he didn't want to know how Quatre knew all these things.

"Constipation…" Quatre shook his head, then let out a snort of laughter.

"Quatre?"

"No, no constipation…" Heero raised an eyebrow, then skimmed down to the bottom of the page.

"I'm skipping ahead to the symptoms that always occur before withdrawal." Quatre laughed again, then nodded.

"Yes. That's a good idea." Heero shook his head before he began to read.

"Sudden pain throughout the entire body, dizziness, disorientation, incessant jerking of the limbs…"

"No." Trowa stared at Quatre, confused.

"Quatre, how could you possibly know that? None of us could see inside his cockpit when it happened…"

"Except Duo." Trowa and Heero both stared at Quatre in disbelief.

"What are you getting at?" Heero moved the hand that had been hovering over the keyboard so that it clasped onto a pen, which he twirled in his hands to help ease his tension.

"Duo is perfectly capable of communicating, you just have to know how to hear him…" Quatre looked down at Duo. "I know, I know. I should have listened to you, but how else was I supposed to convince them that you didn't have that virus?" A slight pause. "Right. You actually think we could have pulled that off?" Another pause. "What? Oh…. I forgot…" Quatre turned his head to look up at Trowa, whose face was contorted with horror.

"W-who were you talking to?"

"Um… I know this sounds kind of odd, but I was talking to Duo… I can hear his thoughts in my head, like before with Heero—"

"Enough. I don't need to know about this right now. If what Quatre says is correct, then Duo can't possibly have the virus. The final stage eliminates almost all brain activity. If Quatre can hear his thoughts, then he obviously isn't near dead." Heero closed his laptop and limped to the door.

"Where are you going?" Quatre tilted his head to the side, unsure of what to make of the situation.

"I'm going to do some more research. We've eliminated my only lead, so I have to start from square one."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Midii discovered that she was receiving constant video information from her little bug, so she continuously sat in front of her computer sorting it into three divisions: trash, important information, and 'personal reference'. Any shot with her Nanashi in it was instantly saved to her hard drive. She was still surprised by the fact that he was still alive, even though everyone else she had ever let herself get close to, love, had died.

"But not my Nanashi…" she finished the thought out loud. There was no one else in the room. Himitsu still wasn't strong enough to get out of bed, and the fact that they had no food wasn't helping. Nakushita was torn between watching over his lover, and taking care of the 05 pilot as he was told.

The door creaked as it was opened, Midii was too lazy to oil it to get it to stop. She turned around and saw Nakushita slump into the room, turning on the computers that monitored the room Wufei had been locked in when they left.

"What did Himitsu have to do to pry you off of him?" Nakushita growled softly and entered a password to view the rooms. They had put passwords on everything when Wufei had broken out the last time.

"He's going to go check on Wufei himself. He told me not to follow, so I'm—"

"Going to spy on him from down here, right?" Nakushita glared at Midii, which awarded him with a loud laugh. "My god. You're just like a little cat. You follow your owner around everywhere. But when he goes off to talk to someone else, you do everything you can to make sure he doesn't forget you—" Nakushita picked up a pen off of the desk and threw it at Midii's head.

"Shut. Up."

"Of course. People never want to hear the truth…. AH!" She reached up and caught the glass coffee mug before it smashed into her head. "That would have hurt!"

"That's the point, Einstein." Midii mumbled something before going back to her work. The video now was nothing but an empty room, as it had been for the past hour. Every now and then, something would pass by the door, but nothing eventful happened.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Wufei groaned as he heard the lock in his door click open. His head still hurt from whatever had happened the day before. All he could remember was a tearing feeling inside his head, like something was trying to burst out, then he passed out.

"Are you feeling any better?" Himitsu walked into the room, leaning heavily on the door frame. He looked like he had spent his last few hours in hell. "Alright. If you don't want to talk, that's fine. But I do have a few questions for you…" Wufei cringed inwardly as he heard these words. Any time someone had said that to him, it always ended up with him being beaten to a pulp because he refused to be so weak as to endanger his friends to stop his own, pitiful pain. "Why do you fight others?"

"Because they are unjust, and they force pain onto others."

"Why?"

"Because they are weak!" Himitsu sighed. He knew exactly what each of Wufei's answers would be. He had encountered his recorded thoughts while piloting Ukiyo, and could think the way he would. What he had to do was lead the boy through a series of questions until he realized what mistakes he had made.

"Why do you fight?"

"I fight to punish those who are unjust. Those who kill for no reason."

"Is it unjust to kill so you can eat? So you can feed your loved ones? Is that injustice?" Wufei sputtered slightly at that question, knowing full well that Himitsu was talking about himself. "Is it unjust to fight for a lost family? Lost friends and loved ones? Is it unjust to fight because that is all you know? Because people have told you all your life that the other side is evil, and that you must fight to keep this evil from spreading?" Himitsu now stood directly in front of Wufei, who was sitting on the edge of his bed. "Now, if you answer no, then we are not your enemy. We have not done injustice. We are simply soldiers doing what we must, as you are." Wufei's hands were shaking now. He was taking in all of the information he was given, and denying everything, even though he knew it was true.

"Sh-shut up…" Wufei's words were so quiet, that Himitsu chose to ignore them and continue.

"If what you have said is correct, then you fight no one. You're in a battle with yourself. Everyone you've killed had a family, and a reason to fight. By killing them, you are giving more people a reason to fight, for vengeance. And if you answered you to any of my above questions, then you yourself are unjust. You pick your opponents because you are told to. You began fighting to avenge your family, who was killed because someone thought it would help bring justice. You also fight to protect those you have befriended, whether you know it or not."

"SHUT UP!!!!" Wufei lunged at Himitsu, knocking him to the floor. Before the tired man could react, Wufei began beating the shit out of him, pounding his fists into his stomach and face. Himitsu remained silent through this torture, taking it obediently without weak cries of pain, or empty threats. This action only spurred Wufei to hit harder. He couldn't understand this person. That man was shredding all he knew into oblivion, and Wufei just wanted him to shut up.

"GET OFF OF HIM!!!!" A blur of black and brown threw Wufei into the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Wufei tried to clear his vision, but he didn't have the chance before a fist slammed into his stomach with a sickening squish. Another hand in his stomach, then his chest, then his head. Wufei heard his jaw crack, and felt a sharp pain as his mouth dropped open, unable to keep it closed.

"MEISHO!" The man in front of Wufei stopped moving completely, and let loose his grip on his shirt. "Get. Out." Wufei's vision was still swimming, but he could see enough to know that Nakushita had been the one who almost killed him. "Now!" Nakushita gaped at Himitsu, then got ahold of himslef and left the room. Himitsu sighed and pulled himself off of the ground to put Wufei back in the bed. "I lied before. I am unjust as well as the rest of my team." Wufei stared at him with his jaw still hanging open. "Especially Nakushita, because he believes what you do. You must do all you can to protect those you love, even if it means you become evil yourself." Wufei wanted to say something, but he was in so much pain that he passed out, for the third time that week.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Midii sat at her computer, watching the monitors for Wufei's room, taking in what had just happened. "No one likes to hear the truth. Reality is too painful…." She let a small tear slide down her cheek as she returned to watch her precious Nanashi taking such good care of his small blond 'little one'…

To be continued…..

Mel: *grins* That's amazing! I just got one of these out yesterday too! And I didn't even have any of this pre-written!

Tsuru: *is asleep*

Mel: *sighs* Useless muse…

Tsuru: *throws a Jap-Eng dictionary at Mel, which happens to be the hardcover one….*

Mel: Itai! *holds head* what was I going to say? Oh, right. If any of you can find holes in Himitsu's little speech to Wufei, please! Don't hesitate to be ruthless! Tear the thing apart! Let me know every little detail you find wrong with it! I believe that if a friend asks for criticizm, a true friend will not hold anything back! Be a nice writer! E-mail me at Tigger88mw@aol.com I would really apriciate it! it might even give me some incentive to write the next chapter soon and skimp on my homework! ^__^


	11. Chapter 10, Quatre's kokoro no uchu goes...

Mel: Another chapter… two in one day… I'm overworked.

Tsuru: *shakes head*

****

Legal crap: Melara does not own Gundam wing, a sense of right and wrong, the ability to spell, or any sleep.

Warnings: Only one focal point in this chapter. A little bit of Duo and Quatre torture…. Not as bad as it could have been. Enjoy it as much as possible.

Mel: *yawns* Ok. Last one for today. And don't expect one tomorrow. I have school.

Tsuru: Oi….

"Hello Duo. I'm back. Did you miss me?"

Hell yeah! I told you, I have nothing to do! No one else will even come in here to talk to me… except Kate. But she's different…

"Really? How so?" Quatre couldn't help but laugh at Duo's hyperactive mind. Even in the worst position, he could still keep cheerful.

Well, you know her. She'll babble about this and that, tells me that I don't have to worry. That help is on the way—

"She says help is on the way?"

Yeah. She's probably just trying to make me feel better…

"Maybe…" Quatre drifted off on this thought, but Duo demanded his attention.

Oi! Where were you? Drifting past Venus?

"Gomen, Duo. I was just thinking…"

Yeah, well why don't you try thinking at me instead? Quatre blinked. It took him a minute to understand.

"I-I don't know if I can do that…"

Well, give it a shot. You never know, right? Quatre sifted through his mind, and tried to think to communicate instead of talking. After about five minutes, Duo broke his concentration. Don't strain yourself. If you can't do it, you can't do it, you know? Quatre and Duo continued to talk…. Well, think and talk, for a few more minutes before Quatre brought up a question that had been bothering him in a very sly manner.

"Hey Duo, are you hungry?"

…Not exactly… While they were talking, Quatre noticed that Duo's phrasing had become slightly awkward. And several times, he couldn't think of the word he wanted to use.

"What do you mean?"

Well… I told you earlier I can't feel anything… so if I needed food, I wouldn't know.

"Do you think you'd like to try eating?"

…. Duo was completely silent for a moment. If he was thinking, he was doing it on a level that Quatre couldn't hear him. How would I do that? A feeling of horror passed through Duo, and Quatre could feel it as if it were his own fear. You wouldn't… wouldn't… uh…. God! I can't think of the word! Uhm…

"I'm not going to shove a tube down your stomach, if that's what you're getting at."

Well then… what would you do?

"Duo, do you think you could try to move? I'll help you find your way out if you want…"

No! Quatre winced at the emotions that shot through him with the harsh thought. They went by so quickly, he didn't have a chance to identify them. I-I don't want to…

"Why not?"

…. Another pause, and a feeling of uneasiness in his stomach. I'm afraid… I don't want to have to feel _that_ again… Once was enough, thank you. Quatre sighed and leaned back in his chair.

'Oh Duo, I hate to see you like this… I wish there was something I could do to help…' Quatre paused at this thought. There _was_ something he could do. If he had been able to make Heero feel less pain, then maybe he could do the same for Duo. Quatre tried to trigger what ever it was in his mind that allowed him to do that, but he had no idea what to do. Before, it was just a reflex. He couldn't control when it happened, and when to stop it. He had to find something to trigger that reflex. Quatre put his hand on Duo's again, and felt his mind slip.

Quatre gasped as pain flowed through his body. His chest tightened and forced him to exhale. He brought his free hand up to his head, weaving his fingers through his hair, pulling at it. His other hand remained on Duo's, holding it tightly, as if it were the only thing keeping him alive.

Quatre? Duo could feel the blond's mind slipping away from his. He didn't want to be alone again, he didn't want to be lost. Quatre, what's happening?

Duo's voice shot through Quatre's mind, forcing him to pay attention. "Du-Duo…" Quatre shook his head and tried to concentrate. "See… See if you can get up…" Quatre's breathing became short and ragged with the pain, but he wouldn't let go of Duo until he pulled himself out of his mind. Quatre was just going to have to deal with the pain a little longer.

Quatre? Daijobu? Quatre took his hand from his head and put it on the edge of the bed to keep himself upright.

"Fine… Just see if you can move…" Duo pushed hard against the barrier in his mind. He had let himself slip back too far, and now he was having trouble getting out. 

"Heh…. Just a little more….." Duo now had control of his mouth, he just needed to find the rest of himself. The only problem was, he didn't know if he wanted to do that. He had no desire to feel the horrible pain that had knocked him into the back of his mind in the first place.

"Don't worry…. There won't… be any… pain….." Quatre fought desperately against his mind, which was slipping away into Duo. He didn't want to invade his friends thoughts if he could help it. But he was fighting a losing battle.

Duo trusted Quatre's words, and forced himself to move his head. "It doesn't hurt…" Duo couldn't understand. There was supposed to be a sharp pain in his head, what happened? Why didn't it hurt?

Quatre began to feel very cold, and it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. "That's good…. Keep pushing…. You'll be out soon…."

The last thing Duo was able to move was his eyes. He turned to Quatre to see what was going on. He was scared by the pain that contorted the young Arab's face. "What's wrong?"

Quatre looked up at Duo, and saw that the dead look had left his eyes. "Oh good…. I'm so glad…. you're alright…." His mind slipped again, further into Duo. He could hear his thoughts, and Duo was none too happy at the moment.

Duo looked down at Quatre's hand. It was clenched so tightly around his own that the knuckles had turned white. "What's happening to you? Quatre?"

Quatre forced himself to smile at the self proclaimed shinigami. "I… I don't know….. I'm as lost as you are…" The pain was eating away at his energy. He knew he wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer. "I… I can't do this…"

"Do what? What's wrong?" Quatre could feel Duo's anger as a part of himself.

"Your pain… I can't… keep you… from……." Quatre felt his voice trail off in exhaustion. He looked up at Duo and gave a tired smile.

Duo looked back down at Quatre's hand. "My pain? This is my fault. I'm the reason….." Duo grabbed Quatre's hand, and pulled it away from his own.

"No…." Quatre was too tired to stop Duo. He felt his mind snap as his hand left Duo's. He was forced back into himself, and the pain from that was equal to that of Duo's. His eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell over on Duo, a dull thud as his head made contact with Duo's chest.

Duo let out a cry of agony as the pain shot through his body again. Trowa ran into the room to see what had happened. He said something, but Duo didn't hear. He had already been thrown back into the depths of his mind once again. He fell backwards, letting Quatre slip off onto the floor.

To be continued…

Mel: Ok. That's enough for now. I'm tired of writing. That's all I've done all weekend.

Tsuru: O.o So, you're going to do your homework?

Mel: Hell no! I'm gonna go play FF8!!! I haven't done that in weeks!

Tsuru: *sighs* hopeless…


	12. Chapter 11, this chapter has been altere...

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, or a sense of timing… My sanity is still up for debate….

Authors notes: I'd like to apologize for the chapter that used to be here. After fighting with this story for quite some time (and loosing painfully each time…), I came to the conclusion that I had misplaced chapter 11. I was trying to push the story forward too quickly, and it ended up messing up my plot so even I couldn't fix it.

Daichi: *laughs* is that even possible?

Mel: *glares at Tsuru* What have you done to him?

Tsuru: *smirks*

Daichi: Is this the pathetic excuse you're going to use for taking so long on updating? We all know it's because you've been watching Trigun…

Mel: *defensively* That was just today! What do you expect I'll do when I buy a new anime?

Tsuru: Of course. You couldn't possibly have spent all these months watching three episodes of Trigun…

Daichi: There's also Sims….

Mel: That was only recently!

Tsuru: And RPGs…

Mel: I borrowed that! I have to play it so I can give it back!

Daichi: And going out with her koi….

Mel: . I have a life, you know!

Tsuru: No, you leach off of Kat.

Mel: Hey!

Daichi: And get her to hook you up with guys…

Mel: . Ok, that's it! Where's my nerf gun! I have some hunting to do! Onii-chan! Dig a hole in the back yard! I have some muses to bury!

Daichi/Tsuru: *gulp*

Daichi: *to Tsuru* It's your fault. Your idea….

Tsuru: *to Daichi* you listened…

Daichi/Tsuru: *continue to bicker*

Mel: This is the real reason I can't write….

Tsuru/Daichi: hey!

Mel/Tsuru/Daichi: *fight*

Midii typed in her codes, desperately trying to shut her squealing laptop up. Information was coming in too rapidly, and the computer couldn't separate any of it. She set it to play the video in real time, and was surprised when the screen was filled with a warped picture. It looked as if two images were being displayed at the same time. She tried to find the source of the extra picture, but the computer asked for a pass code. Midii silently cursed Nakushita for making everything password-protected as she searched through her mind for the right code.

"Damn…."

"Password incorrect, voice recognized. Access approved." Midii took a deep breath, so as not to punch a hole through the moniter, before continuing. She needed to make sure she was only receiving a signal from one source, then get rid of the other.

"So there you are…." She found that her two signals were coming from almost exactly the same place. They had to be within meters of each other. It didn't take her long to focus on which signal was the original, then she told the computer to ignore the other signal.

"Access denied."

"Damn it!" Midii hissed. Something had overridden her command. She decided to try again, and was hit with another problem.

"Please enter password."

"Nakushita… when I get my hands on you, I swear I'll—"

"Password incorrect, voice recognized. Access approved." She furiously slammed in the command to change the receiving signal again. "File not found."

"What the hell do you mean, 'file not found'!?!?" She was now only getting one signal, but no image. She was, however, receiving a whole lot of sound and visual information that couldn't be displayed in real time. Her laptop couldn't handle the overload, and froze. "Shit!" She was about to cut off the power when everything just returned to normal. She had real-time video, and was able to catch a glimpse of her beloved Nanashi before the image seemed to fall back, and she was staring at a blank ceiling. The brown-haired boy leaned into her sight and mouthed something. She didn't have sound, so she couldn't tell exactly what it was. All too soon, he was gone, and there was nothing on her screen but crème coloured plaster.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Mmmmm….. T-Trowa?" Trowa quickly stood up as he heard Quatre's voice. He reached out a hand and placed it on Quatre's cool head.

"Are you alright?" Quatre closed his eyes and nodded, then stretched.

"I'm fine. Just trying to wake up…." Quatre held out a hand and looked at Trowa. "Up?" Trowa smiled and pulled slightly, helping the blond to sit up. "Thanks." Trowa leaned over and kissed Quatre slightly on the forehead.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Quatre shook his head slightly, and hugged his lover.

"I would, but I'm not quite sure myself…" The boy sighed deeply before continuing. "I tried to help Duo, and ended up getting hit with his pain…" Trowa nodded in understanding. If there was one thing he had learned about his little love, it was to accept the impossible. Being with that boy resulted in more miracles than he could count. "Will you come with me next time?" Trowa stopped rubbing Quatre's back, trying to understand what he had asked. "Will you… make sure I don't end up like this again?"

"Of course." Quatre smiled into Trowa's chest, then sat upright.

"Do we still have some of that soup I made for Duo?" Trowa nodded, and the two went downstairs to find it.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero's gaze was fixed at some indefinite point above his laptop. His fingers gently moved over the jade dolphin charm, the chain wrapped loosely around his wrist. 'Why can't I just forget….. Forget Relena, forget love, forget friendship…' Heero picked his gun up off of the table next to the couch and laughed quietly to himself. "Forget promises…"

__

He never heard you. It's not like he would know. Heero laughed bitterly again before putting the gun away and standing to leave the room.

'Of course… Duo would never notice anything was wrong if I were lying in the middle of the floor with a hole in my head…'

__

He wouldn't. Not in the condition he's in, anyway… He stopped in the doorway and banged his head into the frame. He didn't want to think about Duo right now. If they didn't hurry up and figure out how to cure him, the doctor might consider him a liability…

Heero smacked his head into the wall again, as if it would rid him of unwanted thoughts. However, it did give him a terrible headache, which did the job nicely.

"Heero! What do you think you're doing?" Quatre put his hands on Heero's shoulders and turned him away from the wall.

'Slamming my head into the door frame. What does it look like I'm doing, baka?' Quatre chuckled slightly as he lifted Heero's bangs, checking for any breaks in the skin.

"Who's the idiot? I didn't just loose ten braincells…" the blond boy shook his head and walked into the kitchen, while Heero just stared at him in disbelief.

'Did I say that out loud?'

"Hey, Trowa? Where's that soup? I can't find it." Trowa slipped past Heero to help Quatre find what he was looking for.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Alright, Duo. We're going to try this again." Quatre stepped into Duo's room, followed by Trowa carrying a bowl of soup.

Are you crazy? You could have killed yourself!

"Now we don't know that." Quatre motioned for Trowa to sit down in a chair next to the bed. Quatre sat on the bed on the other side. "Trowa? Make sure he eats all of it. Feed it to him if you have to."

I refuse to eat! Not if it could knock you unconscious again. Quatre grabbed hold of Duo's hand, and allowed himself to take the pain a little at a time, so he wouldn't be overwhelmed like last time.

"I'm not going to let go until you finish the soup. The more you fight, the longer I have to do this." Quatre winced as the first wave of pain hit him. The dull throb in his head was tolerable, but his chest was tight, making it difficult to breathe.

"Quatre?" Trowa stood up, ready to do something to help the blond boy.

"Stay there. I'm fine." When Trowa didn't sit down, Quatre forced himself to smile. "Really. Don't worry. Just sit down and relax."

Quatre, stop it.

"Ok, I think the pain should be bearable now. See what you can do." Quatre took slow, deep breaths. If he became stressed, he might not be able to control his kokoro no uuchu.

I don't know how! I'm trapped! Now cut it out!

"Quatre? What's going on?" Trowa looked down at Quatre's now shaking hand with concern.

"He's stuck. He can't figure out how to get out." The boy shook his head. "It's because I let go so quickly last time. It must have pushed him further back." Quatre let himself slip into Duo's mind a little further. He was determined to force Duo out.

What the hell are you doing now! You're shaking like mad!

"Almost…" Quatre was being hit almost full force by whatever had taken hold of Duo. His head felt like it was about to split open. At last, he could feel Duo's mind directly. All he had to do was figure out how to get him out.

Well, you did it alright. Are you happy now? Duo's intense anger spurred him to push out of his mind, ignoring what little of his pain was left.

"My god… he's moving…" Trowa leaned over Duo's body, watching as the boy's eyes moved toward him.

"soup… give… soup…" Duo hadn't found his way out completely yet. He didn't care how pathetic he looked. He just wanted to eat the damned soup and be done with it.

Quatre backed his mind up slightly, trying to spare his energy. The edges of his vision had begun to fade, and his breathing was becoming harsher. "Tell me when he's done." Duo struggled to sit up, and was grateful to feel Trowa's hand behind his back helping him. Once he was up, he reached out for the spoon, and hastily devoured the warm liquid, even though it made his head hurt more.

"I'm done. Now ease up." He leaned back against the bed, and turned his head toward Quatre. "Let go of me now."

"…working on it…" Quatre slowly backed off, trying to cause Duo as little pain as possible. He gasped in surprise as the connection was cut off, and he fell off the edge of the bed. He continued to lie on the floor, waiting for his vision to clear. He grinned when he saw Trowa leaning over him, with a very scared look on his face. "We did it."

And you're not doing it again! Trowa shook his head and helped Quatre to his feet. The blond boy winced when he heard two voices in his head at once.

"Are you alright?" The two voices created a painful echo inside his head, making him moan. "What's wrong?"

"Stop talking." Quatre shook his head a few times, then regained his composure. "When you two say the same thing at the same time, I hear an echo. It drives me nuts."

"Sorry."

Gomen! Quatre winced again, then hugged Trowa.

"Next time this will be a little easier, I think. Duo shouldn't be so far back."

Next time?!!? What do you mean 'next time'?!?!? Duo continued to yell at Quatre for being such a baka, but the blond pilot cut off his connection completely, then left the room with Trowa.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. Really. Don't worry." Trowa smiled lightly, and kissed Quatre.

"Alright." Quatre smiled, and turned to head down the steps. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to help Heero do a little research. The sooner we find out what's wrong with Duo, the better."

To be continued…

Mel: *dusts hands off* There! Now that that's taken care of…

Kat: You and Sean can come over!

Mel: -_- You know? I just realized that I have more of this I could write….

Continued….

Midii sighed in exasperation as her alarm went off again. Her laptop was receiving two signals again. But this time, she wasn't allowed a visual or sound. Her laptop busily processed data, but not so much that it could hurt.

"You know what? I give up. If you want to send me two signals, go right ahead. I won't fight with you." As soon as the words left her mouth, she was left with a single signal. The blond girl let her head fall, hitting the desk. "Smart ass." She would have to look into the problem later. But first, she set a program to try to get control of the motors. If she could get movement, she would be able to get much more information.

To be continued… again

Mel: Uh oh… I'm finished this chapter… and that means…

Sean: Whut r u doing?

Mel: *sighs* Sean…

Sean: yea. you're done now

Mel: o.o Tasukete….


	13. Chapter 12, what do trowa and Heero do w...

Warnings: Trowa and Heero have an.. erm… _interesting_ conversation at the beginning. There is a little reference to sex here, but I don't think it's enough to change the rating. If you have a complaint, I'll be happy to listen.

Author's note 1: Please, please, pleeeeeeaaaase! Someone! Tell me that someone has figured out what's wrong with Duo! I don't know how many more hints I can give you baka readers without telling you flat out!

Mel: *taps foot* Tsuru?

Tsuru: *freezes at computer* Uh oh…

Mel: Up.

Tsuru: *stands up, slowly*

Author's note 2: You guys should probably make sure you read the edited chapter 11, or this won't make much sense to you….

Mel: Now… TARGET PRACTICE!!!!! *shoots water pistol wildly at Tsuru, soaking numerous papers and books on her desk*

Tsuru: . I'm. Wet.

Mel: That's the point, baka.

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own it.

Lawyers: ?.?

Mel: *sighs* not you again…

Lawyer 1: Don't won what?

Other lawyers: *in unison* Own. Not won.

Lawyer 1: Oh. I thought that didn't make sense.

Mel: -_- Great… smart-aleck, dyslexic, cookie guzzling lawyers… Where do you guys come from, anyway?

Lawyer 1: *hands Mel a piece of paper*

Mel: lleh? Erm… is that like llama? Well, that makes sense. You should be put in a zoo.

Lawyer 2: -_-() ignore the intern. He's not trained to handle a class X-2.

Mel: Class X-2? *blinks* huh? *is handed another piece of paper* Hell? Oh. Ok… I would have thought I would see more of you then… Or maybe that's why I get stuck with you baka instead of nice lawyers like Blue Blaze's Grandfather… Anyway, that's enough babble. If you guys aren't satisfied, wait until the end of the fic.

Trowa flopped down in the chair across from Heero in the living room. He heard the chair creak with his weight, but it didn't feel any less sturdy. Heero glanced up from his laptop for a moment, then went back to work.

"What's wrong Trowa? Didn't get any last night?" Trowa ignored the second comment and simply answered the first.

"Quatre stayed up all night researching Duo's problem on his laptop." Heero's typing came to a pause and he looked Trowa in the eyes. They stared at each other for a long time before one of the front legs of the chair Trowa was sitting on snapped, sending him flying to the floor.

"So I was right." He skillfully caught a pillow inches from his face, then smirked. Trowa picked up a thick book to place under the corner of the chair, then sat in it again.

"If that were the problem, I would fuck you right here." To emphasize this statement, Trowa leaned forward and rubbed Heero's thigh.

"No thanks." Heero brushed away the hand, and Trowa sat up again. "I don't do guys."

"I could change your mind… Quatre and I always thought you and Duo would make a cute couple…" A small chuckle made both boys turn their attention to the doorway. Quatre grinned and sat down on the couch next to Heero.

"Are you two at it again?" Heero just grunted and went back to work. Quatre looked over his shoulder, watching him work. "Don't bother. I already checked that site. Nothing."

"You should let me know where you've looked so we don't keep finding the same information over and over."

"You should check your e-mail more often. I sent you everything you'd need." Quatre stood up, stretched, then sat down on Trowa's lap.

"Quatre, I don't think that's a good idea…." The blond boy nuzzled Trowa's neck before pulling back.

"Why not?"

"I don't think this chair likes m—" as if on cue, the back leg of the chair snapped, sending the two tumbling backwards. Quatre rolled backwards before stopping, and Trowa flipped over his head on top of the smaller boy. Heero smirked, then went back to his e-mails. "Yuy, you say anything…"

"Shhh! Trowa! Be nice!" Quatre grinned, then pushed Trowa off of him so he could stand up. "That's what you get for trying to sit in that chair. You know Wufei fixed it last time it broke." He chuckled again, then sat down on the couch next to Heero. "I'll just sit with Hee-chan…" Trowa stood up and sat down on the couch in the remaining seat, on the other side of Quatre.

"Hee-chan?" Heero quirked an eyebrow at Quatre, who had draped his arm over his shoulder and was watching the laptop. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Yeah. I'm fine. I think Trowa's the one we should be worried about. I haven't heard a word out of him since he fell out of the chair." Quatre grinned and leaned more fully against Heero's body.

"Hnrrrrr…." Trowa growled possessively and pulled Quatre toward himself, claiming his lips in a rough kiss. When he was finished, Quatre leaned back and grinned, rubbing Trowa's saliva off of the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You know? I don't think it's fair that you get all the fun." He leaned back and folded his legs underneath him, so he was half lying on Trowa.

"That looks uncomfortable…"

"Well, if Heero would lift his laptop up for a minute I could put my feet on him…" Heero sighed, and lifted the laptop as he was asked. Quatre grinned and let his feet slide onto the Japanese boy's lap. "Arigato! That's much better." Heero shook his head, and finished reading his e-mail from Dr. J.

__

That can't be right… why would he want me to do that? He had received strict orders that if they didn't find a cure for Duo in the next two days, or if his state endangered any of the other pilots, Heero was to kill him.

"Hey, Trowa? Why don't you go get something to eat?" Quatre carefully slipped his feet out from under the laptop, and sat correctly on the couch, leaving Trowa looking slightly disappointed.

"I'm not hungry."

"Right." Quatre laughed and tapped Trowa on the head. "Baka. You can't lie to me. I know you're hungry. I can hear your stomach growling from here, and it keeps waking me up!" Trowa sighed and stood up.

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Just a glass of water would be fine. Thanks." Once Trowa was out of the room, Quatre lay down again, rubbing his temples, his happy demeanor gone. "You can't kill him." Heero sputtered slightly at that statement.

"W-what?"

"Don't play dumb. I know the orders you got from Dr. J, and you can't kill Duo. He's a gundam pilot, and not that expendable."

"Quatre, we don't even know if he'll ever come out of that trance. I've already requested to have a doctor come in and look at him, but we can't risk that while those three gundams are still at large. We don't know enough about them, and we can't—"

"You don't seem to understand. I won't let you kill Duo. If I have to, I'll die trying to pull him out of there once and for all. I won't let you give up on him like that.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Duo was bored. Totally and utterly bored. Quatre wasn't in the room, so Duo had no one to talk to. He couldn't go find something to do because he couldn't move. Period. The only things he could see where things that happened to be in his line of vision. Somehow, Duo had gotten himself propped up against the headboard of the bed, with his head resting on his shoulder.

'Man, there's nothing to do. At this point, even having Heero come into the room would be better than nothing.' Heero came to check up on Duo periodically, but he rarely ever sat in Duo's view, and he never spoke, so it was just as if no one was there at all to Duo.

Duo's vision began to shake, and he couldn't figure out why. His head slipped off of his shoulder, and he was forced to look at his hands. They were twitching, very badly.

'What the hell?' Duo felt something trying to push his mind farther back than it already was. Naturally, Duo's reaction was to push back. Hard. He could feel competition for the control of his body, and he began to fight with all he had.

Duo felt a sickening yank in his midsection. His head snapped to one side with so much force, it knocked his upper body off the bed. The constant jerking of his body allowed Duo to feel the pain he had isolated himself from.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Quatre shot upright, and tilted his head.

"What is it?" Heero's hand hovered over his gun as a reflex.

"Duo… something's wrong." A loud thunk was heard from the floor above, followed by a constant knocking. Heero was almost immediately up the steps, followed closely by Quatre.

Heero burst into the room, and looked for any sign of Duo. The only part of him left on the bed was his left leg. Heero moved until he could see the rest of his friend. Duo's body was twitching and jerking randomly, occasionally ramming his head into the wall, or the bed.

"K-k-k-ka-k-k-t-t-at-r-k-k-ka" Duo babbled as his eyes rolled aimlessly in his head.

"Duo." Heero grabbed Duo's head before it could slam into the bed again. "Quatre, he's convulsing. You make sure he doesn't hurt himself any more than he already has. I'll be back." Heero left the room, and began to search through his stash of medication.

Quatre placed his hands on Duo's head to keep it from moving, and was overwhelmed by the fear and confusion off the boy.

I-I'm lost, I don't know what to do. Help me, please!

"He-hep-lep-h-h-pme-mep-lep-me-h-h" Quatre forced himself to listen to Duo's thoughts rather than his incoherent babble.

"Calm down Duo. I promise I'll help, but first you have to calm down."

Wh-what's happening to me? What's going on?

"Ka-k-k-t-ta-ka-t-t-tak-k-k-t-t-at-k-a-k-ta" Duo's left leg jerked off the bed, and hit Quatre square in the back. Quatre took in a jagged breath before answering.

"You're having a seizure." Quatre moved his hands to Duo's wrists, and placed his legs over Duo's to keep him from injuring Quatre.

It hurts… I want it to stop…

"P-p-le-ple-s-p-p-l-pl-es-l-sep-l-pl-s-pe-" Duo's jaws snapped down hard on his tongue. Hard enough to draw blood.

"Quatre," Heero dashed into the room, and put his hand on Quatre's shoulder. Quatre looked up at him with lost eyes.

"It hurts… help him, please?" Heero put his hand on Duo's arm, and motioned for Quatre to move his hands up higher. Duo's head jerked to the other side, making a sickening crack as it slammed against the floor.

What's Heero doing? Heero pulled out a syringe, and squeezed it lightly to get all of the air out. Duo's leg pulled up, and knocked Quatre off of him.

"Try to keep him as still as possible."

"What is that?" Quatre re-positioned himself on top of Duo to hold him in place.

"It's a tranquilizer. It will get Duo to stop convulsing."

Nani!?! He's gonna drug me?!? What the hell gives him the right to do that!?!? Heero shoved the needle into Duo's arm at the elbow, and injected the drug. Duo's jaws unlocked, and he began his babbling again, only this time it was tired and slurred.

"Wh-wh-why….. H-h-hee-r-r-h-hh-ro…... k-ka-t-t-at-tr-atre……" Duo's muscles relaxed, and he went limp.

I can't see anything…. I'm trapped…. Why did you let him do that?!? Why…… Duo's mind shut down, and Quatre could no longer hear him. His eyes went wide, and he let go of Duo.

"How much did you give him?" Heero ignored Quatre's question, and lifted Duo's seemingly lifeless body up onto the bed. Quatre stood up and grabbed the neck of Heero's shirt, turning him around. "I'm not fooling with you Heero. Answer me!" Heero looked down at the syringe in his hand, now empty.

"Not enough to kill him…. But enough to knock him out…." Quatre reluctantly let go of Heero, and sat down hard on the bed.

"I'm… I'm sorry Heero…. But you couldn't hear him… You don't know how confused he felt… He didn't know what was happening…." Heero put a hand on Quatre's shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"You need to get some rest. You haven't slept at all for the past two days." Quatre sighed and relaxed his shoulders.

"You're right. I guess I've just been so worried about Duo…" The blond turned his head to look at the sleeping figure. "I'll go now." Quatre pushed himself off the bed, and stumbled. Heero got up and put his arm around Quatre, holding him upright.

'That baka is going to end up in worse shape than Duo if he doesn't start taking care of himself…'

"I heard that," Quatre mumbled. He looked up at Heero and gave him a tired smile. "And I don't see anything wrong with being a little concerned about my friends…"

"I don't like the idea of you in my head." Quatre's knees buckled, and he slipped out of Heero's arms. His eyes widened in surprise until he hit the ground, at which point they squinted shut against the pain that shot through him.

"It…It's not… not like … I try to….… It… it just… happens…." Heero let out a sigh, and slowly picked up the little Arab and carried him into his room. Quatre opened his eyes again. "She's with you, you know. I can feel her. She loves you…" Heero's eyes widened, exposing Prussian blue orbs to the darkness of the room.

"Who?" he asked, hoping that he didn't already know the answer.

"Relena….." Quatre's head tilted to the side, and his breathing quieted. He was asleep.
    
    'Stay out of my head, Quatre. Next time, I won't let you off…' The perfect soldier left the room. His golden angel stayed behind. She needed a few words with the pilot of Sandrock…..

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Midii sighed in exasperation. She wasn't able to take control of movement for some reason. She had to get in there in person to inspect it… She opened up a blank file and started mapping out a plan.

To be continued:

Mel: Whoo hooo!!!! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! It three in the morning, and I just wrote that chapter in one sitting! Well, I cheated on the little section with Duo's seizure, but…

Tsuru: Mel? Go to bed. You're going to be on a lack of sleep high tomorrow if you don't…

Mel: Ahh… you mean _today!_ It's three in the morning! Yahooo!!!!

Tsuru: . And normal people are _trying_ to **sleep!**

Lawyers: *are all asleep, sprawled out on the floor*

Lawyer 1: *is on Mel's bed* Mmmmohmmm… Choko… hmmm….

Mel: *perks up* choko? CHOKO!!!! *bounces up and down* Can I have choko, onegai? Onegai? Onegaiiiii?

Tsuru: *sighs* Pity me…


	14. Chapter 13, i have now officially slippe...

Author's notes: In case you guys were a little confused by Trowa and Heero's little conversation, it's kind of a little inside joke. I think it's hilarious to think that Duo keeps prying and prodding at Heero to get him to open up a little, but Trowa can get into playful fights with him. And then, Quatre walks in who obviously has seen these types of things before and begins to act like Duo. which, I might add, was intentional. You'll find out later what's going on there…

Tsuru: *yawns* You know? You just finished writing that other one, and haven't even posted it yet…

Mel: I'm working on a stash. I'm preparing for groundation. I know that my dad is going to pounce on me for putting off my summer reading again, like last year.

Tsuru: But this year you have five books, unlike last year's one.

Mel: I only have to do written work for two of them. I'm fine… *yawns*

Tsuru: -_- She's a dead duck…

Mel: Ooh! Ooh! Bonus points if you can recognize what anime I've slipped into this section! *laughs*

"Quatre?" Relena slid her hands into the boy's soft blond hair. "Quatre, I know you can hear me. Answer."

'I'm too tired…. Leave me alone….' Relena frowned at Quatre's thought, and pressed her hands firmly against his head.
    
    "You can't keep doing this to yourself." Quatre let out a slight gasp as Relena slipped into his mind.

'Wh-what?' Relena smiled sweetly and put her head up to Quatre's.

"Do you want to know what's happening?" Quatre nodded slightly after a moment.

'Yes.' Relena closed her eyes, and slipped completely into the young Arab's mind. At this point, she was a part of him. She could hear his every thought, know his every emotion. She could even control his body if she wished.

"You're special, Quatre. You're a black angel." Relena opened up a blank world in Quatre's subconscious so she could be face to face with him. The blond boy gasped and opened his eyes, startled by the switch that he hadn't caused.

"What happened? Where am I?" Relena laughed at the boy's confusion and walked up to him. Quatre froze when he realized that he wasn't wearing anything, and gaped at Relena, who was in a similar state.

"We're in your mind. You could think of this as a dream, except you aren't the one controlling it." Relena held her hand out, and Quatre was instantly in his trademark khakis and purple vest. "Is that better?" Relena was now wearing a pale rose dress that flowed out at her knees and elbows.

"What is a black angel?" Relena smiled and changed the section of Quatre's mind they were in. The perplexed boy shivered as he was again dragged to another part of his mind with no control of himself.

This new area was enveloped in a warm blackness. Relena wrapped her hand around Quatre's to give him reassurance. Nothing was visible for almost five minutes, when a small green orb began to glow, lighting up Quatre's face. The boy held out his free hand and cupped it around the sphere. Chaotic white lines began to dance through the ball, sending a wave of anxiety through the two minds.

"This is your kokoro no uchu. This is what originally allowed you to share the feelings of others." Quatre nodded absently and closed his eyes.

"Trowa…. He's worried about me…" Relena smiled and took the orb from the boy.

"Quatre, you're an angel sent to earth at the mercy of humans. You have a sympathy for people that other angels lack. As an overseer of the universe, you have special abilities. For instance, your space heart." Relena paused to gesture around them. "But you aren't supposed to have access to the higher devices until you give up your mortal body."

"But I do, don't I?" The question was stated more as a fact than a question. "…Why?"

"I can't tell you that. I don't know… But I do know that if you continue to exercise your powers, you're going to get hurt. That frail body can't handle what you're putting it through. If you continue this game, you're going to destroy your mind." Quatre held out his hand again, and plucked a violet sphere from the air.

"But what about Duo…. He needs me. I'm the only one who can talk to him…. I'm the only one who can help him break the barrier in his mind…"

"You have to stop. I'll take care of Heero and Duo. You need to take care of yourself."

"But—"

"As a black angel, you always put others before yourself. Sometimes, this tendency blinds you from the truth of a situation. You aren't going to do Duo any good if you pull him out of his trance, only to let him find that you've completely destroyed your consciousness. It would cause him more pain than if you let him fight this on his own." Quatre nodded, and turned away from Relena, knowing she was right, but unable to accept it. "Quatre…. Promise me you won't do anything stupid, onegai?"

"I can't do that. I'm sorry. Go back to Heero now." Relena gasped when she found herself outside of Quatre's mind, and back into the room. He had pushed her out… How could he be strong enough to do that?

The dead girl looked down at Quatre's still form and curiously removed her fingers from his hair. The normally pale blond locks had a slight tinge of white to them.

"Quatre….. take care of yourself…" With that, the girl left the room to return to her koi.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"No Midii. I can't let you do that."

"But we have all the information we need! Let me take him back. Maybe I can get into the house and work from there."

"It's to dangerous. They would kill you."

"Himitsu! Look at him! He's in horrible shape! Let me take him home!" Midii stood in front of Wufei's bed, trying to get permission to take the boy back to his base. He was in horrible shape with his jaw broken, and a rib cracked. He needed medical attention that they didn't have access to. If she could just get permission to take him back, she could get access to more important things….

"You just want to take him back so you can get a good look at that guy." Midii glared at Nakushita, who had finally opened his mouth about the topic, only to make a smart remark. "Don't give me that look. I've seen how you stare at him on your laptop. We can't afford to lose you over such a petty thing…"

"But I need to fix my transmissions! I can't get control of the locomotive devices. If I don't go there to fix it, we'll only get images from the same dammed room with whoever else decides to enter it, and that's no use to us!" Himitsu closed his eyes and sighed, holding up a hand to silence Midii.

"Alright. I'll let you go, just promise you won't get yourself killed in the process…" Midii glared at Himitsu before turning to plan her leave.

"You won't have to worry about that."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Don't worry Hee-chan! Help will be here soon!" Heero was pulled out of his thoughts as Kate bounced down on the couch next to him, looking up at him with her large jade eyes.

"First of all, who told you that you could call me 'Hee-chan'?" Kate giggled and threw her arms around Heero in a little kid type hug.

"I'm not supposed to tell. You might be mad when he wakes up." Heero shook his head, resisting the temptation to laugh.

"Duo gets himself into more trouble than—"

"Not Duo…." Kate grinned and squeezed 'Hee-chan' again.

"Not Duo?"

"Nope!" Kate laughed again, and scooted over to the edge of the couch, putting a pillow between her knees.

"Fine." Heero sighed and decided to ignore the subject. "Now, what did you mean by 'help will be here soon'? Did you call anyone?" Kate shook her head and got a serious look on her face.

"No. I didn't call anyone, just like you told me to."

"Then what do you mean?" Kate opened her mouth to reply, but was cut short by a harsh knocking at the door. Kate grinned when Heero turned to her.

"They're here! Well, what are you waiting for! Open the door!"

To be continued….

Mel: I have the strangest feeling of déjà vu…

Daichi: It couldn't possibly be because you've left them with this same cliffhanger once before.. so what could it be?

Mel: . TSURU!!!!!! YOU'VE RUINED MY MUSE!!!!!!

Tsuru: *grins*


	15. Chapter 14, blurred memories

Mel: Okeday, I'm starting to get tired now.

Tsuru: *shakes head* You do realize that you've spent the past six hours writing three chapters in a row?

Mel: not all of it! I swear! Around three o'clock my computer stopped playing my music, froze, and restarted. When it fixed itself, my drive D was my CD drive, and my drive E was my local hard disk 1 as opposed to C, which is 0…

Tsuru: Alright, five.

Mel: That's much better. Oh, and by the way, all disclaimers apply. I'm to hungry to come up with another.

Tsuru: *raises eyebrow* Hungry?

Mel: Hai… I think I'll go get something to eat…

"Well? What are you waiting for? Open it!" Kate slipped behind Heero and pushed him towards the door, trying to encourage him to let the unannounced visitor in. Heero started to pull his gun out, but was stopped by a tiny hand.

"Are you crazy? I don't even know who it is."

"Wufei's there. Don't worry." Heero looked down at Kate, and tightened his hand on the gun.

"I hope you know what you're doing…" He opened the door and stood face to face with a young girl, about his age. Her blond hair was pulled back in a braid, and she smiled with relief when the door opened.

"Oh, I'm so glad. I didn't think there would be anyone here…" Heero pulled his gun out and pressed it against the girl's head.

"What are you doing here?" The girl gulped, and motioned behind her.

"I found this boy in the woods about a week ago… he was delirious, but he kept telling me that he had to get back here. He had a broken rib, so I wanted to take him to a hospital…." Heero motioned for the girl to step to the side, and saw Wufei sitting in a wheel chair. He was quite pale, his hair was messed up and filthy, and he had metal wires in his mouth, holding his jaw in place. On top of that, he was unconscious.

"What happened to him?" Heero motioned to his mouth.

"He got into a bit of a fight with the doctor and slammed his head into a chair. They told me that was how he broke his jaw. They just let him out of the hospital yesterday… it took me forever to find this place. I—" Heero pressed the gun harder against the girl's head.

"You shouldn't have come." Trowa walked into the room to see what had happened. The moment Midii saw him, she gasped.

"Nanashi…" Heero loosened his grip on the gun slightly, but didn't take his eyes off of the girl.

"Trowa, do you know her?"

Trowa looked at the girl, then shook his head. "I don't. That doesn't mean she doesn't remember me." Midii felt her heart sink. He didn't even remember her. For the past six years, she thought of him, and he couldn't remember…

"HEERO!" Heero winced slightly as he heard Quatre's panicked tone. He forced himself not to turn around, and keep his eyes on the girl in front of him. Quatre raced down the stairs. He went so fast that his foot missed a step, and he fell half way down. He was lucky enough to land on his feet, and he skidded over to where Heero was holding the girl at gunpoint. "Put the gun down!"

"Quatre, we can't afford to—" Quatre snatched the gun out of Heero's hands, and looked over the blond girl.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." Midii answered gruffly. She didn't like the fact that _Trowa_'s lover had been the one to save her.

"She's the one, Quatre! I told you she would come!" Kate pressed past Heero to look up at Midii, then smiled. "Hello Midii!" Heero looked down at Kate, then back up at Midii, astonishment colouring his face.

"Don't worry Heero. I'll take care of her." Quatre put Heero's gun into his own pocket, and led Midii out of the room. Heero turned to Trowa and sighed heavily.

"Why do I feel like I've just signed my own death certificate?" Trowa walked out the door and began to check Wufei's limp body for anything that looked like a bug.

"Because you're smart." He pulled out a slim black laptop, almost identical to Heero's. "She's the one who blew up Heavyarms."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Nothing had gone according to plan. At the moment, Midii was just drifting in a current. One would probably lead her off the edge of a cliff. "How did you know about me?" Quatre shook his head.

"I didn't. Kate did. She can see things that are happening in a different place as they're happening." Quatre sat down on his bed and offered Midii the chair next to it.

'that's it… I'm screwed. He knows who I am. He's going to kill me.' Midii braced herself for the worst as Quatre pulled the gun out of his pocket.

"I should kill you. It would be safer for us in the long run, but Kate says you know how to help Duo. Is this true?" The gun was placed on the table between them. If she wanted, Midii could grab it and get the hell out of here. "You aren't like Himitsu, are you? You aren't nearly as smart." Quatre opened up the gun, and showed her that it wasn't loaded. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to save my friend."

'I don't know a Duo. He must be the other pilot, the one Himitsu almost skewered… I wonder why I haven't seen him yet…'

"Seen?" Quatre tilted his head to the side. "So you do have us bugged." Midii stammered, astonished.

"H-how did you know that!?" Quatre shook his head.

"You just told me." Midii grimaced. She had been trained to avoid simple tricks like that, but it seemed like he was reading her every thought. How was she supposed to outsmart someone like that? "Just because I spared your life doesn't mean I'm letting you go." Quatre stood up and offered a hand to Midii. "And don't feel angry that Trowa doesn't remember you. He's been through a lot this past year."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Trowa opened up the laptop slowly, and passed it to Heero. "I expect she'll have put up barriers. You're better at that than I am." Heero nodded and took the electronic device. It wasn't long before he had hacked through the main line of codes.

"That was too easy. There has to be something else…" he noticed a program was running in the background and had been accessed recently. He opened it, and wasn't surprised when he hit another code set. He hacked through that easily as well, then opened the program. "What's this?" A picture of a room popped up on the screen.

"That's Duo's room…" Heero nodded in agreement. The doorframe was visible, and he could watch as Midii and Quatre passed by.

"So this is how she found us…"

"Midii? Tell me, what did you use to bug us." Trowa turned to watch as Quatre and Midii walked down the stairs. Quatre was watching the laptop, and his face was pale. He looked sick and tired, with dark rings around his eyes. His hair even looked paler than usual. "If you don't tell me, I'll have to find the answer myself." Midii glanced at the door, calculating her chances of getting out without getting shot. They were very small.

"How did you get into my laptop?"

"The codes were too simple." Heero put the laptop aside when he noticed Quatre was getting irritated.

"Midii, what was it? A chip? A camera?"

"Why should I tell you?" Quatre quickly closed the space between them and put a hand on Midii's arm.

"Because I'll know either way."

"I won't make it easier for you." Quatre slipped into Midii's thoughts, trying to find something to get her to talk. He didn't want to invade her entirely. He didn't have the energy, and he didn't know if he would be able to find his way out again. In addition, he always got a sharp pain in his head when he did this.

"A virus… computer? A program…" Quatre sighed. "How did you bug us?"

"Wh-what are you doing?" Quatre slipped in deeper unintentionally, and started to feel Midii's anxiety and fear.

"You didn't…. a friend…when?" Quatre let go of Midii's hand, and reached over Heero. "Let me see this." He picked up Heero's laptop and skimmed through the mission reports. "Great….."

"What?" Trowa peered over Quatre's shoulder to see what he was looking at.

"Duo had a mission a few days before he started feeling sick. That's when he must have done it…" Quatre shut the laptop and turned to Midii. "If you can get rid of that virus, I'll not only let you live, but let you leave in peace. If you refuse to help, I'll kill you like we should have done in the first place." A small noise came from the other side of the room. Everyone turned to see what it was. Wufei's eyes were wide, and his hands moved along the wiring in his jaw.

"Don't try to talk. You'll only make it worse." Heero walked over to Wufei and looked him over again, noting the many bruises on his body. "Are you hungry?" Wufei nodded, and looked around the room. "I'll make you a milkshake. You should be able to drink that." Quatre's eyes widened at the mention of food.

"Trowa! We forgot Duo! He hasn't eaten since yesterday afternoon!" Trowa nodded. "Heero, can you make enough for Duo to have some too?"

"Hn." Heero simply doubled the amount of milk in the mixture, and added an extra egg.

"Thanks." Quatre sighed and leaned against Trowa. "I think I'm going to take a long nap after this. I wish Heero hadn't woken me up earlier…"

To be continued…

Mel: "Heero knelled down…"

Tsuru: o.O

Mel: That's what I had typed, but the spell checker didn't catch it.

Daichi: Knell? Isn't that like a bell or something?

Tsuru: I thought it had something to do with death…

Mel: Hey, do any of you know what a knell is? Erm.. I guess it's a verb, because knelled wasn't wrong…

Daichi: Knell is a noun.

Tsuru: Maybe it's both…

Mel: I just had to ask….


	16. Chapter 15, the mystery of Knell, solved...

Mel: *looking through dictionary on her computer* Ah! Here it is!

Daichi: So, what is it? *looks over Mel's shoulder*

Mel: Hey, guess what? You were both right.

Tsuru: *scoffs*

Mel: Aw, don't be bitter, Tsuru. Just because you have to share the glory…

Tsuru: *glares at Mel*

Mel: ^_^() anyway, here's what a knell is….

Knell \'nel\ vb 1: to ring especially for a death or disaster 2: to summon, announce, or proclaim by a knell

Tsuru: So it wasn't a noun. *sticks tongue out at Daichi*

Mel: o.O Don't act like a kid. There's another definition here.

Knell n 1: a stroke of a bell especially when tolled (as for a funeral) 2: an indication of the end or failure of something.

Mel: See?

Daichi: So it's the_ sound _of a bell…

Mel: Now that that's taken care of….

Legal Crap: Hi there, this is Headache, we met at the end of last chapter! Remember me? 

Mel: Uh…. Oops? *trashes legal crap* ^_^() gomen, I heard this great comercial on the radio where a voice is Headache and keeps trying to set up an appointment with this girl so he can make her head hurt. She won't scedual him in… *laughs*

Daichi/Tsuru: o.O

Mel: …() I thought it was funny….

Daichi: *shakes head* and now on with the show…

Trowa gently pulled Quatre aside as they walked up to Duo's room.

"Trowa, what's wrong?" Trowa shook his head slightly, and made Quatre put down the milkshake they were going to give Duo.

"Tell me, exactly what's wrong with Duo?" He ran his hand along the side of Quatre's face, concerned for him.

"I can't tell you for sure… but Midii and her brother came up with a program that taps into brainwaves in order to steal information. It was modeled off of the piloting program and hardware that allows the pilot to control the suit by moving." Quatre paused to sigh as Trowa sat down. He didn't want to sit next to him because he knew it would be hard to get up again, but he was too tired not to give into the urge. "I don't know exactly how they did it, but they managed to get this virus into Duo's head. She… Midii controls it from her laptop, and that's how she found us. She can see what Duo sees, hear what he hears, and tap into his memories. The virus was supposed to be harmless and work in the background… but it's trying to take over instead. That's what keeps pushing Duo back." Quatre sighed again, and leaned against Trowa.

"What's happening to you, Quatre?" Trowa ran his fingers through Quatre's hair, noticing why it was so pale. White strands of hair were scattered throughout his locks.

"I'm not sure…" Quatre closed his eyes and groaned slightly as he forced himself to stand up. "We're not going to get anything done sitting down. Let's hurry up and give Duo his meal." Trowa shook his head as he watched Quatre leave the room, then followed.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"We don't have any food left, and my gundam is the only one left with enough fuel to get us anywhere useful."

"Himistu, I'm not letting you pilot that. You still haven't recovered from that battle." Nakushita watched helplessly as his lover got dressed, preparing to leave.

"If we wait any longer, neither of us will be strong enough to pilot anything." Himitsu sat down on the bed next to Nakushita and ran a hand through his black, unbound hair. "You look so much better with your hair down."

"I'm not letting you pilot that. That's final." Himitsu nibbled slightly on Nakushita's ear, sending ripples of pleasure through his body.

"We need supplies, and we need food." Before Nakushita had a chance to continue the argument, Himitsu pressed his lips over his mouth. He didn't need to persuade his lover to open his mouth, it did that on its own automatically. Nakushita pulled back after a moment, and glared at Himitsu.

"This is serious."

"I understand." After a moment's silence, Nakushita sighed.

"I'm not going to let you pilot Ukiyo. I'll do it for you if you show me how." Himitsu hesitated, then nodded.

"Alright. It shouldn't take long. Either you can, or you can't." Nakushita sat up strait as Himitsu's hand brushed against his privates before he stood.

"N-now?" Nakushita looked up at Himitsu, disappointed. His lover offered him a hand to help him stand up.

"You want to learn how to pilot Ukiyo, don't you?" Nakushita glared at Himitsu, then stood without his help. Himitsu smirked, and slipped his arm around Nakushita's waist to lead him out of the room. Nakushita glared at Himitsu once again, but didn't move away from the warmth. "And you're so kawaii when you're mad at me."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Morning, Duo. I brought you breakfast. I hope you don't mind a milkshake, because I'm afraid that's all I have the energy to let you eat. Unless you want to make a suggestion…" Quatre waited for Duo's voice to appear in his mind. He would probably be grumpy because of what had happened the night before. "Duo?"

The boy seemed dead to the world. Quatre couldn't feel his mind at all. It was as if he really was the empty shell he looked. The drug must still be in his system.

Quatre walked over to the nightstand and put down the glass he had been carrying. He smiled sadly and brushed the bangs away from Duo's face.

"How are you feeling?" Trowa stepped into the room, a slight look of worry on his face. Quatre sighed, watching Duo's hair dance in the slight breeze. He looked so empty, and unlike before, he looked _dead_.

"He looks so cold…" Quatre couldn't understand what was wrong, other than the missing cheerful voice in his head. When he finally noticed what it was, his chest tightened in fear. "H-he's not breathing…" Quatre quickly pressed his fingers against Duo's neck, searching for a pulse. He could feel the warm blood pressing through the restricted vein. The slow beating of Duo's heart echoed in Quatre's ears. He closed his eyes in an effort to escape the loud noise, and instantly felt like the ground had disappeared out from under his feet, and he was falling…

A small jerk on his shoulders sent his mind reeling. He was seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting hundreds of things at once. It was as if he were living an entire lifetime in an instant, everything he could detect had a memory attached.

"…atre! Quatre!" The boy slowly opened his eyes. Trowa was holding him, his eyes wide and his voice shaky.

"Mmmm…" Quatre weakly tried to lift a hand up to Trowa's long face, his fingers gently passed across his forehead and over his eyes. Quatre desperately fought to focus on the face in front of him, how his skin felt, and how his voice sounded… But memories were tugging at his mind, demanding his attention. "T-Trowa? P-put me down…" As soon as he said this, he slipped out of Trowa's arms and hit the floor.

Trowa stared at Quatre for a few moments. He mouthed a silent apology before he sank to the ground. Fatigue overtook him and he felt his mind drift off…

…while Quatre felt it invading. His vision had gone completely black save for the horrible memories that weren't his.

…Tears trickled down the side of his face. He couldn't understand the concept of sorrow…

…He was hiding in the dark, compacting himself as small as possible. Light streamed in from above him as he was dragged out of his 'safe' box…

…A girl with blond hair crying, asking for him to shoot her. He couldn't do it, because she still had a home to go back to…

…He was running into a wasteland, what used to be his home. He had the horrible guilt of knowing that no one survived, and it was all his fault…

The memories continued to blend together with his own. He was loosing the ability to separate them. Personalities and thoughts melded with his own, He continued to drift through an abyss of contradicting souls.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Trowa! Trowa, wake up!" Trowa's eyes felt like lead. He nodded slightly, hoping that it would be enough to satisfy whoever wanted him up. "Trowa! Tell me what happened!" Two hands placed on his shoulders tried to shake him awake.

"Nnnh…" The movement brought a sharp pain to life in his head, and he forced his eyes open to make it stop. "Wh…who?" Deep blue eyes bore into him, slightly covered by a few strands of dark brown hair. His light copper skin glistened with sweat from worry. "H…Heero?" The word seemed foreign on his tongue, and he was worried he hadn't said the right name.

"Yes. It's me. Now what happened here?"

"Duo… wasn't breathing…" He turned his head to the side to look for Quatre. The boy was lying on the floor, his eyes half open and fluttering so one could only see the whites of his eyes. "I dropped him… too tired…" Heero sighed and stood up, pacing across the room. Trowa's eyes drifted back down to Quatre's twitching body. His fingers jerked slightly, as if he were trying to close his hands around something… "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

"Trowa?" Trowa closed his eyes again. "No. No, don't pass out. Try to stay awake." Trowa heard the words as if he were under water. Nothing was clear, and he had to think about what was said to comprehend it. He didn't have the energy to think…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Trowa! Trowa!" Heero slammed his fist into the wooden floor, cursing. He reached into Duo's stash and pulled out his gun, then stormed down the steps. "What did you do?" Midii turned around slowly when she heard the click of a safety.

"I was trying to disable my program. I—" She stopped when she felt the gun pressed against her throat.

"I want you to take that laptop with you. We're going up stairs." Midii nodded numbly, and carried her still open computer with her as Heero lead her up the stairs. She gasped as she saw the two boys lying unconscious on the floor.

"Trowa…"

"Duo. Look at Duo." Heero roughly turned Midii's head toward the braided boy on the bed. Midii's eyes widened as she saw him. She quickly enabled the parts of the virus she had begun to take down, and Duo's chest began to rise and fall again.

"I… I think the virus is keeping him alive…" Heero glared at the girl, then looked down at Quatre. "I… I can't take it off without killing him. Unless there's something else we can use to keep him alive while I take it down…"

"We'll wait until Quatre and Trowa wake up." Heero hesitantly lowered his gun. Midii sighed with relief as the cold metal left her neck. "Get out." She nodded, eager to get away from the crazed lunatic. Once the girl was gone, Heero ran a hand through his hair.

'Dr J was right. Duo's condition is causing too many problems.' He gently carried Trowa into his room, then came back for Quatre. The blond boy thrashed out as Heero tried to touch him. His eyes snapped open for a moment, then closed again. Heero decided to leave the boy where he was for the time being.

To be continued…

Mel: Gomen… I know these chapters are getting shorter and shorter… but I'm trying to get them out as quickly as possible. I'm grabbing every bit of spare time I can get so I can work on this. I'm really trying to get this finished.

Tsuru: o.O weren't you playing FFVIII yesterday?

Mel: Yes, I was. But the only reason I got away from my paper was because there was a lightning storm outside, and it was hailing!

Tsuru: so?

Mel: You don't leave your computer on when there's lightning outside, baka. It could fry your computer.

Daichi: Yours is already messed up.

Mel: Don't remind me….

Tsuru: Her D drive won't show up on the computer. She's lost access to all of her songs.

Mel: *cries* it's not fair!!!!


	17. Chapter 16, difficult decissions

Mel: Ok guys, I know most of you are just about to kill me here…

Angry mob: Grrrrr!

Mel: Calm down! Calm down! I have chapter 17 already written. It just needs a few tweaks here and there…

Angry mob: …. *sits down to read story*

Mel: Sorry it took so long. I did have a lot of really good reasons though!

Tsuru: *rolls eyes* Like what?

Mel: Like school, dead computer, school, Kat, school, boyfriend….

Daichi: Oi….

Mel: But… the main reason for me not updating was my excessive--

Daichi/Tsuru: Laziness.

Mel: You didn't have to be that blunt!

Tsuru: *sighs*

Legal Crap: Mel no own GW. Mel no own lots of anime. Mel sad.

Daichi: o.O

Mel: That was the "Shampoo" disclaimer…. You know… Shampoo? From Ranma?

Tsuru: *shakes head*

Mel: *pouts* Anywhoots, on with chapter 16! You deserve it after that wait I put you through!

Images flitted through his mind, but not nearly as rapidly as before. He was relieved to be at the tail end of this torture. He felt a small wet tear trickle down his face as he watched Quatre break down and cry while remembering the loss of his father, then he watched that father be killed. The last of the images had come, and had been sorted into three persons. He just had to figure out which one he was.

Duo… Duo couldn't move. Duo was trapped. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, then quickly shut them. It was too bright. He was in Duo's room, on the floor, but he could move. He couldn't be Duo. Carefully, he began to erase Duo from his mind. He wasn't sure how he was doing it, he just was. It was a relief to have one less mess to sort through. He felt himself slip away, and all he knew of were the images he was erasing.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Trowa sat up in bed before he had completely woken up. He knew he had to be awake, but wasn't able to think enough to figure out why. He opened his eyes as he forced himself off of the bed, and began to walk out of the room. He paused as he felt a tiny hand on his, trying to hold him still.

"Are you okay?" Kate looked up at the much taller boy, concern evident in her emerald eyes. Trowa nodded slightly, then continued out of the room. "Are you sure?"

"Is Quatre alright?" Trowa completely ignored the girl's concern for him, more worried about his lover than himself. Kate sighted in surrender.

"He's still unconscious in Duo's room." Trowa took three strides to get to the door of Duo's room, while Kate, with her much smaller legs, had to hurry to keep up for the short distance. Trowa paused for a moment as his hand touched the doorknob. He was afraid of what he might see when he opened the door. Finally, his fear for Quatre's safety won over his temporary paralysis, and he entered the room.

"Oh my god… Quatre…."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

The boy tried in vain to move, to press against the heavy white haze that was holding him down, preventing him from remembering who he was. He felt fuzzy and lightheaded. The air he took in felt thick, like water. He knew his eyes were open because he could feel the sting of cold air on them, but he couldn't blink to get it to go away. Perhaps he was moving, but he was too numb to feel it. Everything disappeared into the white abyss he was trapped in, the thick blanket that covered his senses.

"Wake up….." The boy paused in his relentless efforts to move when he heard a voice. He couldn't place it, but he had definitely heard a voice. "Quatre…." The boy felt a hand placed on his shoulder, and that was enough to shatter the blank nothingness.

"W-who…" He gasped as colors flowed over him, slowly turning into blurry images. He had to close his eyes to keep from passing out from dizziness. When he opened them, he was looking up at a slightly tan face with long brown bangs that covered one of his emerald eyes. "Trowa?" He narrowed his eyes in confusion. His mind was in a state of utter paradox. Part of his mind told him he was looking at himself, while another part told him to trust the boy holding him with his life.

"Quatre? Are you alright?"

"…Quatre? Is that me?" The hand on his shoulder was removed, only to be replaced by a warm, tight embrace.

"Quatre, don't you remember?" Of course he remembered. He remembered everything. The problem was, he remembered more than just that. He needed to convince his mind that he was Quatre, not Trowa. Trowa was holding him, comforting him. However much he tried to believe it, though, the other part of his mind screamed at him that the boy holding him was an imposter.

"I remember…. I just… I need…." The boy sighed and pressed tighter against his lover. Quatre… he was Quatre… , now if only he could convince himself it was true…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Kate ran down the steps, nearly missing one on the way. She had to catch herself on the banister to keep from tumbling down the other half of the stairs. After that, she forced herself to be more careful, though she barely slowed down at all.

"Kate?" Heero arched an eyebrow as the little girl ran into the room. She had to catch her breath for a moment before she could speak.

"Quatre's awake. You should go see him now." Heero stood up, then eyed the girl carefully.

"What else?" Kate looked surprised at the curt question. "I know something's wrong, now what is it?"

"He… he's having trouble remembering who he is." Heero growled softly as he headed out of the room. Duo was putting too much at stake. They couldn't afford to loose any more pilots. If they couldn't come up with a way to save him, Heero was going to have to follow through with his orders…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Himitsu? Are you sure this is going to work? The helmet's too big…" Himitsu carefully placed the sensors onto his lovers body, then backed up. "You didn't put them all on…"

"I know. The right side won't work, Ukiyo was damaged in the last battle."

"But…"

"Normally, I wouldn't even think about taking it out in this condition, but we hopefully won't run into any battles. We just need to get to the nearest station." Nakushita sighed in defeat.

"Alright. Now, show me how to use this." Himitsu kneeled down and pressed a few buttons on the control panel in front of Nakushita.

"Hold on, this will feel odd…" Nakushita gasped as the machine turned on. He felt like feathers were reaching around his head, under his scalp. It tickled, but it didn't hurt like he expected it to. "Alright. Now, lift up your left arm." Nakushita did, after a few minutes of thought. The tickle made it difficult to process information quickly.

"Did--"

"Don't talk. You might set off a command accidentally. Now, I'm going to get us out of here. Just stand there for a minute." Himitsu hit some more controls, then the gundam began to move on its own. Nakushita gasped as his body moved on its own accord with the gundam, as if Ukiyo was piloting him. "It's alright. You're doing fine. The fact that we're moving means that Ukiyo has accepted you as a pilot. Don't worry. All you have to do is listen to me, and we'll be fine." Nakushita took a few moments to realize that Himitsu had said anything, and even longer to figure out what was said. The system was tiring his mind quickly, making it slow and sluggish. He was gaining more respect for his lover by the minute. He had always known that piloting a mobil suit with this type of system was exhausting, but it was something that had to be experienced first hand before it could be fully appreciated.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Midii glared at the door out of Wufei's bedroom as if it were the source of all evil. Heero had locked her in when she wasn't looking. She had just been doing what was asked of her. Why did he need to be such an asshole? It wasn't her fault his damned friend wasn't strong enough to keep the virus from taking over his basic systems…

"It is my fault, isn't it?" she asked, though there wasn't anyone in the room to talk to, really. She sighed, then opened up her computer do the same thing she had been doing for the past three hours she had been locked in, Solitaire.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Heero looked down at the two boys on the floor. Trowa had kneeled down to hold Quatre in his arms, while the blond boy's legs stretched out in front of him. His body jerked slightly every once in a while, but he seemed to be calm for the most part.

"Heero?" Quatre turned slightly to see the Japanese boy. "I'm alright now. Really."

"Good. I have something I need to talk to you two about." Kate looked up at Heero, silently asking for permission to stay. Heero nodded slightly, understanding, and the blond girl sat down on the floor at the foot of Duo's bed, cross-legged.

Trowa, on the other hand, was not in the mood to talk at all. "Are you crazy? Look at him! He needs to rest!" Quatre looked up at Trowa through his now pure white bangs. He shook his head, then turned back to Heero.

"Go on." Trowa glared at Heero, but did not say anything more. Heero tried to pretend that the piercing gaze hadn't bothered him in the least, even though it had made his blood run cold.

"Midii has concluded that the virus has taken over Duo's vital systems. If she tries to disable it, Duo's body will simply stop working. Unless she can finish in under three minutes, he's as good as dead." Quatre nodded, apparently not worried by this at all.

"I can keep him alive while she finishes. I'm sure I can hold up for at least half an hour."

"That may not be long enough. Depending on the nature of this virus, it could take hours, even days to get rid of it." Quatre stood up carefully, and walked over to Heero so he could look him in the eyes.

"If that's the case, I'll run out of energy and stop, and Duo will die. But if I don't try, you will kill him. I'm willing to take the risk. If there is only a 1% chance he will live, I'll take it. Do you understand?" Heero was shocked by Quatre's stubborn demeanor. He had never seen the boy this serious before. It was enough to unnerve him.

"Y-yes." Heero mentally smacked himself for stuttering. Even if he is scared, he can't let it show. It wasn't allowed.

"Good. We'll do that as soon as I get something to drink…. Where is Midii, anyway?"

"Hee-chan locked her in the bedroom downstairs so she couldn't get into trouble." The three boys turned to look at Kate. Her seriousness in combination with Heero's nickname was so funny, they couldn't help but smile. Quatre actually laughed before leaving the room.

"Kate? Could you come with me?" Kate nodded, and the two blondes left for the kitchen.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Nakushita…" At the sound of his name, he woke up, not realizing he had fallen asleep. "Nakushita, you need to rest for a while. Pay attention to me while I take these off." Nakushita nodded slightly as best he could. Moving was difficult because he felt so heavy. "You've done a great job, but now your mind needs to rest. If you fall asleep while connected to the system, you can get lost. With Ukiyo as damaged as he is, I don't know if I could find you again. That's why it's important you concentrate on me until I get you unhooked." Nakushita tried his hardest to listen to his lover's voice, but he couldn't make sense of any of it. The words seemed to meld together, making a soft melody playing in his head. He closed his eyes again, falling into the rhythm of the words. "Nakushita!" The harsh, recognizable word startled him, and his head snapped up. "Stay awake. I'm almost done." As the helmet was lifted off of his head, he fell to the floor. Himitsu kneeled down, and propped Nakushita up on his chest.

"How long… did I last?" Himitsu smiled lightly and shook his head.

"Half an hour. You lasted half an hour before you passed out, but you've been hooked up to the system twice that long." Nakushita looked ashamed that he hadn't been able to stay conscious longer than that. "You did great. On my first try, I couldn't stay up for five minutes." But Nakushita didn't hear the words of encouragement. He was already sound asleep.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"What is it, Quatre?" Kate sat down on a chair and watched as Quatre opened three different cupboards before finding the glasses.

"It's time for you to go to bed." Quatre took a long drink of water, then put the glass down.

"Is that what you wanted me for?" Quatre shook his head, and ruffled Kate's hair.

"I want to put you to bed. Do you mind?" Kate bit her lip, then nodded. "Alright. Let's go upstairs." When the two entered Quatre's bedroom, Kate turned to wrap her tiny arms around Quatre's waist, just as she had when she first met him.

"Please… promise I'll see you again…" Quatre rubbed the girls back in slow, soothing circles.

"I'm sure you will. And I can promise that you'll see Duo alive tomorrow morning." Kate looked up with tears in her eyes threatening to come, but she held them back.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I know Duo. He's to strong not to survive this." Kate nodded, then reluctantly climbed into Quatre's bed. "But you need to promise me something now."

"What is it?" Kate was eager to do anything to help Quatre, after all he'd done for her.

"Promise me that you won't come into Duo's room until we're finished." Kate looked startled at the request, but nodded.

"I promise."

"Good. Now, you go to sleep now, and everything will be fine in the morning, neh?"

"Hai." Kate kissed Quatre on the cheek, then wrapped herself tightly in the blankets. Quatre smiled, then left the room, turning the light off as he did. He felt guilty for deceiving the girl, but everything he had said was true. Duo would be alive tomorrow, and she would see Quatre again… but possibly not in the way she had hoped…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Quatre walked out of Heero's room, concealing a syringe in his hand. He tapped Heero lightly on the shoulder before entering Duo's room, and pulled him aside.

"Heero… if Duo is in pain, and there's nothing we can do to help him… that is… if I can't…" Quatre took in a shuddering breath and handed the Japanese boy the syringe. Heero nodded with a soldier's understanding, and put a hand on Quatre's shoulder, giving him slight encouragement before he entered the room. Quatre followed slowly, remembering what he had said to Heero when he found out about Dr. J's orders.

'I won't let you kill Duo. If I have to, I'll die trying to pull him out of there once and for all. I won't let you give up on him like that.' And for the first time, the harsh reality of the situation settled in…

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Nakushita slowly woke up for the second time that day, without knowing he had fallen asleep. He carefully sat up, stretching his stiff muscles as he did so. Himitsu was standing in front of him, attached to the system. It took him a moment to realize that they were moving.

"Himitsu, I thought we agreed that I would pilot Ukiyo." A few lights on the control panel blinked, and Himitsu's voice played over the speakers in the cockpit.

"I said I would teach you how. We needed to keep moving if we're ever going to eat." Nakushita was amazed by how many things his lover could think about at once. He could pilot Ukiyo, focus on what was being said to him, and access the speakers to talk over all at the same time. "We'll switch off in another hour. I'm starting to get tired, and you'll be rested enough to try again by then." Nakushita nodded, and leaned back against the wall, allowing his mind to drift. He would need all the energy he could get if he were to give Himitsu enough time to rest after his turn.

End of Chapter 16

Mel: ^_^ Yay! I didn't think I could write that much! I think this linking chapter turned out pretty well, don't you guys?

Daichi/Tsuru: O.O…..

Mel: Guys?

Daichi/Tsuru: O.O…..

Mel: Uh… heh heh… ^_^() Maybe I did a little too good of a job here…… But good news to my loyal fans! Only 2 more chapters to go!

Angry mob: O.O…..

Mel: I've rendered them senseless…..


	18. Chapter 17, free at last

Mel: The second to last chapter! And, ANOTHER DEMONIC CLIFFHANGER!!!!! Gomen, but I don't think you'll be able to get out of this story without suffering through another two…

Tsuru: Two? But, there are only two chapters left…

Mel: *grins evilly*

Tsuru: Oh no….

Mel: Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!! Power! Yessss! Lovely….

Daichi: *hides behind Tsuru* Can we go on to the story?

Tsuru: That's probably a really good idea….

"Midii? Are you ready?" Quatre looked to the side to see if Midii's computer was set up yet. She nodded slightly, signaling Quatre to continue. The blond boy smiled and took hold of Duo's hand. "This is it, Duo. We're getting you out of there." Duo lay unmoving on the bed, save for the slow rise and fall of his chest.

Midii hesitantly set to work. The moment she hit the first button, Quatre and Duo moaned in unison.

"Quatre? Are you alright?" Trowa reached to put his hand on Quatre, but resisted the temptation. He couldn't risk tampering with the process.

"Fine…" Quatre replied. Duo's mouth moved slightly, half-forming the same word. Heero watched in awe as Quatre and Duo settled into the same breathing pattern; Trowa, in fear. Midii couldn't help but stare at the display of Duo's vitals on her laptop.

"I don't believe it… It's actually working…" She jumped as the laptop beeped angrily at her, demanding her attention. She felt cold metal press against her neck and heard a low growl. She didn't need to turn around to see who it was, nor did she want to.

"Don't screw this up." Heero's low voice sent shivers down her spine. She risked a quick glance up to see what had happened, and instantly understood what had angered Heero so much.

Quatre had let go of Duo's hand, and had both of his own wrenched tightly in his hair, a look of sheer pain twisting his face. Duo was looking much the same, and both the boys' breathing had quickened to a frightening pace. Midii quickly went back to eradicating the virus. The relief Quatre felt was so great that he lost his balance, falling back onto Trowa. The impact forced the air out of his lungs, so he began breathing faster to replenish his supply of oxygen.

Heero nervously looked from Duo to Quatre. When the blond boy fell, he exhaled while Duo hadn't. Now, as Quatre's breathing became more frantic, the braided boy was hyperventilating. Each exhalation only released half the air in his lungs, while each violent breath pulled in more than he could hold.

Quatre began to panic as he realized this, unable to figure out how to fix the rapidly worsening problem. As the pain worsened, he twisted his hands in Trowa's shirt, Duo did the same with the sheets.

"Quatre, you have to calm down. If you relax, you can fix this." Quatre heard the words of his lover, but couldn't comply. It was too difficult. He couldn't help but panic at the pressure he could feel building up in Duo's chest, and his own inability to fill his lungs.

"I-I can't!" Quatre cried out loud before continuing to fight his body's need for oxygen. "Hurts… hurts…"

"Midii, stop it!" Trowa's anxiety increased as Quatre and Duo squirmed in place, twisting in ways he didn't think possible.

"I can't. I'm too far into it. If I stop now, it'll kill them both." All Midii could do was work faster. There was no hope in thinking she could complete it in time to save the boys. That was something they had to do on their own.

As a last resort, Heero came up beside the braided boy and struck him violently on the chest. Quatre gasped from the impact he felt, and desperately tried to catch his breath. This time, he succeeded.

Heero let out a slow shuddering sigh, running his hand through his bangs, and sat down on the edge of the bed. There had been too many close calls during this escapade. The sooner it was over, the better.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Himitsu growled, and began to rip the patches off of his skin. Nakushita stood up to help, wondering what was wrong.

"Damn it!" Himitsu didn't have the ability to stand upright, and leaned over on Nakushita as the helmet was taken off of him.

"What's wrong?"

"We're in trouble now…" Nakushita slowly lowered the blue haired man to the ground, then squatted down beside him. "We have to move faster. We're being followed."

"By who?"

"Our late teem mates…." Nakushita looked at his lover quizzically, but didn't need to voice his question. "We disobeyed strict orders by leaving our base without permission. I tapped into a radio signal, and they're after us. We're fugitives now…."

"Guess Midii was lucky to get out while she still had the chance…" Nakushita carefully placed the patches onto his own body, then turned to his lover. "How fast can this thing go?"

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

The next few fifteen minutes went by without any troubles. Quatre seemed to have fallen asleep in Trowa's arms, pressing up against him for warmth. Duo lay still on the bed, eyes open and unmoving, but he was breathing steadily. Midii continued to work, making sure the virus was leaving the way it should, not leaving anything out of place. At last, after what seemed like an eternity, she closed the laptop and looked up.

"It's finished." Trowa gently shook the blond Arabian awake. Quatre opened his eyes slightly and mumbled something, then shifted his weight slightly so he could see Duo.

The American sat up slowly and stretched, looking around the room. Heero was the first to ask what everyone was wondering. "How do you feel?"

Duo smiled and put a hand on his stomach. "I'm a little hungry, and the damn headache still hasn't gone away, but I think I'm fine." Quatre smiled at this and relaxed against Trowa.

"Oh good…" The words were barely loud enough to be heard. The boy was completely out of energy, and was having trouble moving his mouth to form the words he wished to speak.

"Hey, Q? Are you alright? I mean, I can still feel you in my head, so I was wondering…" Quatre's eyes shot open at the sound of his name. He looked very much like a rabbit in the middle of a room filled with people, scared to death because he didn't know what was going on. It took him a moment to process the question in his mind, and a minute more to find an appropriate response.

"I… I'm sorry… I-I'll fix that…" Quatre focused as hard as he could to separate himself from Duo's mind. He hadn't realized he was still there, and it was taking him a long time to find his way out. "I did…. I did it…" Quatre looked up at Trowa and smiled. "Trowa?" His smile faltered, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm cold…" Trowa leaned over and gently kissed him on the forehead.

"You are cold… are you sure you're alright?" Quatre didn't respond. Trowa had a sinking feeling that he couldn't. He pulled back to look at the formerly blond boy. His eyes were closed, and his face passive. He looked like he was finally getting the rest he had needed. Words failed Trowa as he stared at his lover. Duo on the other hand…

"He's just exhausted. Right? I mean, something like that takes a lot out of you. He'll be fine. He'll wake up in a few hours, right? Right?" Everyone in the room wanted to believe it, and wished that that were the case.

"Quatre….."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Damn it… we're surrounded…" Nakushita closed his free hand into a fist, angered that he didn't know how to fight in Ukiyo.

"Let them take us. Ukiyo's in no position to fight."

"I don't give a damn! Now tell me how to fire!" Ukiyo jerked slightly at Nakushita's last word. The two men watched on as the MS directly in front of them were blown to bits. The others immediately reacted, returning the fire. Nakushita screamed with pain as he felt shocks of electricity through his body. Himitsu vainly tried to tear the patches off before it could become any worse.

"I told you not to talk!" He was thrown off his feet as Ukiyo was hit again. Nakushita moaned in agony, but there was nothing Himitsu could do for him any more. The blue haired man lay on the floor, his head against the wall. A thin line of blood trickled down from his hairline, curving as it slowly moved down his cheek. Nakushita soon joined him in the world of unconsciousness, unable to withstand the electrical shocks to his head.

End of part 17

Mel: Gomen… I had to add some action from Himitsu and Nakushita. Otherwise, this chapter would have been out sooner. Oh, and for those of you who are raving mad at me, *grins* guess what, I didn't kill Duo! Just like I promised!

Tsuru: *sighs* Oi…

Mel: *glares at Tsuru* You know, you have been nothing but 5 letters on a piece of paper lately! Why don't you give me a hand writing for once?

Tsuru: *yawns, obviously bored* You never want to write when I'm around…

Mel: -_- I give up on her…

Tsuru: *smirks*


	19. Chapter 18, Why a soldier fights, conclu...

Mel: You know what? I think a lot of you guys are trying to believe that I'm going to write the rest of this story the way Duo thinks it'll end. *laughs* You poor souls…

Tsuru: For once, I sympathize with them…

Daichi: o.O Once? Don't you always?

Tsuru: Watch it, book boy.

Mel: *snickers* It's fun when they aren't after me. *pulls out popcorn*

Daichi: "Book boy"? This coming from someone who's name means bird. More like bird brain.

Tsuru: Crane. It's crane! Now get over here so I can chop that little scholar hand of yours off!

Mel: *laughs*

Tsuru: *glares at Mel* Oh, so you think that's funny, do you? *pulls out katana*

Mel: o.o that didn't last long…. *hides*

Daichi: I'm just going to start this story before things get too out of hand…

Midii stared at the corpse in Trowa's arms. She had done what was asked of her, right? It was Quatre's own fault that he got killed. Midii had nothing to do with it. With shaking hands, Midii closed her laptop, and then bolted out the door. They had promised to let her go if she did what they asked, but Quatre was the only one who had voiced that, everyone else seemed only to agree temporarily. She had to leave quickly before they changed their minds.

Heero hesitated as he watched Midii run out of the room. She couldn't be allowed to leave, she knew too much.  But he didn't want to leave Trowa. He shot an apologetic look at Trowa before finally racing out of the room. He was slightly surprised when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and whirled around in shock.

"You go around back; I'll block her path to the door. That way, she'll have no where to go." Trowa's cool, collected speech slightly unnerved Heero, but the Japanese boy shook that thought out of his head, and swiftly took his path down the rear stairs, to ambush the dangerous spy.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Nakushita opened his eyes, but saw only darkness. His mind only vaguely registered the commanding, angry voices surrounding him. He just barely managed to make out the word "corpse" before he felt something hard slam into his temple. Lights danced across his eyes, even after he had squinted them shut against the pain.

"Well, looks like he's alive after all."

"Little bastard. He should have stayed dead. Would have saved us the trouble of killing him." Nakushita opened his eyes, and saw a hazy blur of colors. His mind worked hard to make sense of the mess, but his attempts were lost when he felt a boot come in contact with his stomach. He fell over onto the floor and gasped for air. He heard the voices in the background laughing, but fading out. Hopefully they were leaving the room so Nakushita could sort through his mangled thoughts, and recover from the blows he had received.

"Nakushita, look at me." The black haired boy groaned as he was gently lifted into a sitting position. "Look at me." Himitsu ran his fingers through his koi's hair. "Open your eyes for me." Nakushita complied, and lifted his eyelids to expose his once deep ebony eyes to his lover. Himitsu's heart sank as he found that his suspicions were true. While hooked up to Ukiyo, the optics had been damaged. Now Nakushita bore the same damages as the complex machine, and his eyes were clouded and useless.

"I can't see anything." His tone was annoyed, but not worried in the least. "How am I supposed to blast out of here if I can't tell which way the door is?" Himitsu couldn't help but laugh at Nakushita's invincible spirit.

"I think that's going to have to wait for a while. We're under constant supervision, so we can't pull anything under their noses."

"Damn. You know? For once, I miss that blond bitch. She could have gotten us out of here." Nakushita laughed to himself and shook his head. "Who am I kidding? I hope she's alright. Can't be much worse off than us, can she?" Himitsu nodded in agreement, forgetting that Nakushita couldn't see his movements.

"She's alive, though I can't say much more than that." Nakushita looked puzzled for a moment.

"How do you know?"

"I just do." Himitsu looked down at the chain around Nakushita's neck. As long as the dragon's eyes didn't glow red, Midii was still alive somewhere. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Kate snuck out of her room and down the stairs. She had heard worried voices, and wanted to know what was going on. She quietly slunk down the stairs, trying not to be noticed. As she came closer to the front door, the voices grew louder. Using her small body to her advantage, she pressed her back to the wall and peered around the door frame.

Trowa stood between Midii and the only way out of the house. His gun glinted in the light of the room as he pointed it at her. Though he showed no signs of letting her through, his eyes showed a hint of conflict as he debated whether to kill the girl or not.

Midii laughed bitterly at the sad déjà vu she was having. He was being held at gunpoint by her beloved Nanashi, just like she had six years ago. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"Get up. Both of you." Himitsu darted in front of the guard before he could kick Nakushita, taking the blow for him. "Now." Himitsu didn't dare to speak as he helped Nakushita to his feet.

"They're goin' to the back. We have a firing squad ready." The guard shoved Nakushita forward when he stopped moving. The young man put his hands out in front of him and ran into a soldier.

"You trying to start something, faggot?" Nakushita narrowed his useless eyes and made a fist with his hand.

"Just be quiet and do what they say." Himitsu grabbed Nakushita's hand and hissed the order into his ear. The soldier, seeming dissatisfied, waved his hand for the two to follow. Himitsu silently guided Nakushita through the halls, trying to keep him from getting into any more trouble.

They stopped in a small, artificial meadow, with a platform in the center. The soldier walked ahead, and gave a signal for the executioner to enter.

"What's going on?" Nakushita strained his hearing to try to understand what was happening, but it was no use.

"They're bringing in a firing squad. They're going to execute us."

"Funny. It smells like flowers, not gunpowder." Himitsu nodded at the observation, and tried not to think about what else this small room was used for. "Then again, you always smelled like flowers, too." Himitsu laughed sadly, and guided Nakushita up to the platform, where they awaited death.

"She never promised, did she?"

"Hmm?"

"Midii. Before she left, I asked her to promise she wouldn't get killed."

"You're right. She didn't promise. But at this rate, it doesn't matter. She's going to outlive us anyway." Himitsu nodded in agreement and held his koi's hand as they listened to the commander read the list of their violations.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

"I bet you regret not having killed me last time you had the chance." Trowa remained silent. To Midii, the answer seemed obvious. How could he not? She had killed the one he loved. She didn't deserve to live. But that didn't change the fact that she was scared as hell of death.

Trowa's grip tightened on the gun as he fought with himself. He didn't want to kill her. One death was more than enough for one day. But the part of him trained to be a soldier knew that it would be suicide to let her leave. She knew far too much about the five… four of them. Trowa glared at Midii, hatred reborn as he thought of what she had done to Duo.

"Go ahead. Be done with it." Midii dropped her laptop on the ground. The top snapped off, leaving a smell of burning wires lingering in the air. "Kill me."

Trowa nodded, but did not fire his gun. Midii closed her eyes and braced herself for the shot, but it didn't come. She didn't notice as Heero approached her from behind, a small syringe in his hand.

"Goodbye Midii." Trowa lowered his gun as he watched Heero press the syringe into the girl's arm, injecting her with the lethal medicine. Midii's eyes widened with surprise at the unexpected prick. Her face quickly softened, and she fell forward. By reflex, Trowa caught her and lowered her to the ground.

"I… still… love… you…" Midii forced a sad smile, and then relaxed. Her eyes remained open, staring at the ceiling. Heero kneeled down and closed her eyes with his hand, then turned to leave. Only then did he notice the bright green eyes, staring at him with hatred.

"You killed her." Kate stepped away from the doorway, and further into the room. "Quatre promised she could leave, but you killed her?" A small tear slid down her cheek. Trowa took a step forward to comfort the child, but she backed away. "No. Don't come near me. You're just like those men that killed my dad. You're just like them!"

"Kate," Trowa started to talk, but Kate let out a cry of anguish and lunged a him, hitting him like a mad man. Trowa did the only thing he could think of, and wrapped his arms around her. Kate began to sob, and her wild attack slowed to almost nothing.

"Why? Why? Why did they have to die?" Kate's sobs finally died out, and she fell asleep in Trowa's arms. The tall boy lifted her up, and gently set her down on the couch, where she could sleep undisturbed. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Nakushita tightened his grip on his lover's hand as the accusation came to a close. Though he couldn't see, he could feel bloodthirsty eyes boring into him. They wanted to kill to prove their allegiance to the cause. Cowards.

"Is there anything you have to say in your defense?"

"Nothing we have to say would change your minds." Nakushita made the statement with venom in his voice. He wanted nothing more than to lunge at the commander and beat him to a pulp in front of his soldiers. He probably would, too, if it weren't for his impaired sight.

The commander found Nakushita's statement amusing, and laughed slightly before replying. "No, I suppose not. Ready your guns men!"

Himitsu took a quick glance at Nakushita. It was enough to notice that his dragon necklace was glowing. "Looks like we'll be joining Midii soon."

"Poor kid. I was sure she'd make out better than us."

"Aim!"

"Goodbye, love."

"FIRE!" 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Duo stared at Quatre waiting for something, anything to prove he wasn't dead. His pale skin and white hair weren't helping his illusion either.

"Damn it!" Duo flopped back against the bed, cursing his stupidity. "I told him not to try it! I told him to leave me alone! Why didn't he listen to me!" He tied to sit up, but his braid was stuck under him, and snapped his head backwards. "KUSO!" Duo snatched his braid in his hand, then leaped out of the bed. His legs were slightly numb from lack of use, and weren't ready to support his weight. From his new position on the floor, Duo proceeded to go on a cursing spree. In the midst of his river of foul language, he decided to crawl over to his desk and use it to steady himself as he tried to get up. His hand landed on top of his braid, and as he tried to move forward, his head was twisted painfully to the side. "AAAAAAH!" Duo yanked open the drawer to the desk and pulled out his box cutter. As he pushed up on the blade, Heero ran into the room, but Duo didn't notice.

Heero was frozen to the spot as he watched the braided boy expose the blade he was holding. "Duo!" The boy's head whipped around, and violet eyes blazing with rage bore into the Japanese boy.

"Leave me alone." He lifted the blade to his neck, and gathered his hair with his free hand. In an instant, Heero had him pinned to the wall with the blade held above his head.

"Are you crazy? What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm gonna get rid of this _thing! That's what I'm gonna do!" Duo fought his restraints viciously, nearly cutting Heero with the open blade._

"Put the box cutter away. Nothing you can do can bring Quatre back, especially not with that knife."

"Just get the fuck off of me so I can finish this!"

"Duo,"

"Let go of me before I cut you off!" Heero pressed his lips against Duo's, and felt the boy relax. The knife fell with a quiet clank to the floor, and a tear made its way down the American's curving cheek.

Trowa watched from the doorway with a sad memory tugging at his mind.

"Quatre and I always thought you two would make a cute couple…"

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

_Six months later:_

Trowa skillfully fought towards his goal, and into the heart of the enemy. In doing so, he was surrounding himself, and separating himself from his allies.

"Trowa! What the hell do you think you're doing? Hurry up and get back here so I can cover you!" Duo's worried voice echoed through the radio. Trowa continued toward his goal, ignoring his friend completely. "Hey! Are you even listening to me? Get that metal ass back here right now! We're outnumbered, you're almost out of ammo, and this whole mission was a hoax! We shouldn't even—" Trowa turned the receiver off, cutting Duo's sentence short. The boy had been correct about everything but one aspect: Trowa was currently _out of ammo, and fighting his way to the base with his backup knife._

The air in the cockpit was stale, and Trowa was quickly fatiguing. He could see the base in front of him, and cut a path for it. All he had to do was blow it up now. Before he could let lose the missiles he had been saving, he was hit hard from the back. Heavyarms rocked dangerously from the impact, and was hit again before Trowa could regain his balance. Now lying on the ground, there was nothing Trowa could do to defend himself. A mobile suit charged up its cannon, and fired. Then everything went white.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Wufei's eyes widened as he saw a ball of fire shoot up from his far left.

"Trowa! No!" Duo cursed under his breath and let out a shuddering sigh. Wufei changed his course and began to fight his way toward the explosion.

"Prepare for retreat."

"No, Yuy. You can go if you want, but I'm not ready." Wufei fought harder into the midst of the carnage, with an echoing voice haunting him.

'You must do all you can to protect those you love, even if it means you become evil yourself.' Wufei fought with the knowledge that he would return to their base with Trowa, or die trying. Besides, Kate would have his head if he returned without him.

"Just a little further. Barton, you fool. Why didn't you pull back?"

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Trowa looked around his new surroundings curiously. The only thing he could see was white. There didn't seem to be a floor, ceiling or walls of any type. He was afraid to move because he might not have anything to stand on.

"Trowa" The boy jumped at his name. He turned his head left and right, looking for what had called his name. He heard a soft musical laugh behind him and turned to face it, but there was nothing there. "Don't be afraid." Trowa felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a beautiful figure.

"Quatre…" Trowa was mesmerized by the small teenager in front of him. He wore only a pair of black, baggy pants. His beautiful blond hair had grown down to his shoulder blades, and his crystal eyes seemed to radiate with affection. But the most stunning thing of all were a pair of black, feathery wings, like an angel's. Quatre folded the wings behind him, and wrapped his arms around Trowa. "I've missed you so much…"

"I know. I've missed you too." Trowa buried his face in Quatre's soft, silky hair. There was nothing he could have wanted more than to have Quatre in his arms again.

"Quatre?" Trowa started his question slowly, hesitant to ask. "Am I dead?"

"No, Tro-koi. You're not." Trowa looked over his love's shoulder, and noticed that one of his wings had folded at an odd angle. He curiously touched it, then regretted doing so. Quatre winced in pain, and grabbed Trowa's arm, pulling it away from the crippled wing.

"What happened?"

"It's broken, that's all. It'll heal up in a week or two." Trowa's eyes narrowed, and he forcefully turned Quatre around so he could examine his back. Cuts and burns covered his creamy skin, crisscrossing with the scars from fighting in the war. "Trowa…"

"How did this happen? Who hurt you?" Quatre sighed and looked down at his bare feet.

"I tried to protect you. I didn't want you to get hurt in that blast. I saved your life, but it wasn't quite enough…" Trowa stared at his dead lover, not understanding. "Trowa, you're in a coma right now. Heero doesn't think you're going to live through it."

"What should I do?"

"You have to wake up. You have to let go of me." Trowa shook his head.

"I don't want to loose you again." Quatre sighed, and walked up to Trowa.

"I want you here as much as you want to stay, but the others need you, Kate especially. You know she looks up to you as an older brother." Trowa turned his head to the side and closed his eyes.

"I don't know what to do."

"I'm sorry I have to do this to you." Quatre took a step back, and opened his wings, wincing as he did. Then, he looked up, and began to fade away.

"No, wait! Where are you going?"

"Wake up Trowa. There's nothing here for you now. Go back to them." Trowa took a step forward, and reached out, but his hand passed through Quatre's smiling face, and he fell.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Kate hugged Heero tightly, fighting the tears that refused to stay back. The four of them sat around Trowa's bed, waiting to see some sign of life, or lack of life. None of them knew what to say, even Duo was speechless as he stared at the still form on the bed.

"I think… I think we should go get some rest." Wufei looked over at Duo, noting the dark rings under his violet eyes. "Maxwell's not going to last much longer."

"Sally said he could wake up at any time. I'm not leaving." Duo shifted in his chair, trying to get comfortable.

"He may not last the night. The wounds he sustained are too severe." Duo whipped his head around to glare at Wufei.

"Fine. You go to bed. I'll see this through to the end, whatever it is."

"Maxwell, you're acting like a child."

"I'm not giving up on him!" A small groan cut the argument short, and the two looked over at Trowa. Kate was immediately at his side, hovering over him like a vulture.

"Kate, back up. Give him some room." The girl reluctantly obeyed Heero's gentle order, and backed up only a few inches.

"Hnnn…" Trowa's eyes fluttered open, and he looked over at Kate. "Q-quatre?" Kate smiled and shook her head.

"Did you see Quatre?" Trowa tried to sit up, but his broken arm prevented him from doing so. He looked down at the makeshift cast curiously, then back up at Kate.

"Kate? What happened?"

"You went in there by yourself and got your ass kicked, that's what happened!" Duo leaned over Trowa on the opposite side of the bed as Kate. "Why the hell don't any of you listen to me when I tell you not to do something?" Wufei snorted at the last statement. "Ok, Wu-man. You give me an example of a time I told you _not to do something, and I wasn't right?"_

"How about the time you told me not to put toast in the toaster because aliens would abduct me?" Duo sputtered, then glared at Wufei.

"That was a joke!" Kate laughed and grabbed the two bickering boys by the hand and pulled them out of the room.

"I don't mind you arguing, but go do it somewhere else. You're too noisy!" Trowa laughed as the three left the room.

"Heero, I have a question." The Japanese boy nodded, and sat down in the chair closest to the bed. "Duo asked me once, 'Why don't you and Heero care if you die?' He fainted before I had a chance to think about what he had said." Trowa shook his head, then looked back at Heero. "Why is it that we take orders to self destruct without a second thought? Why is death just part of the mission?" Heero sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know. I never thought about it."

"What would you do…" Trowa carefully planned out his question in his head. "What would you do if Duo took a suicide mission without telling you? What would you do if he didn't come back?" Heero thought for a minute, then shook his head.

"I'd hack into his computer, find out who sent him the mission, then go blast their head off." Trowa laughed.

"I think we should get out of this war as soon as possible. Find a way to make it end, so we can try living a normal life. You, and me, we grew up learning how to fight. Kate and Duo were sucked into it on accident. It's not fair for them to have to die." Heero nodded, and looked down at his feet. "I think I know why Quatre did what he did now. He wanted to help Duo live a normal life." Trowa sighed and closed his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. "I want to make sure Kate lives to see a world without war." Heero smiled, and shook his head.

"Quatre once said to me that you're quiet because you only speak when you have something important to say." He waited for a response, but didn't get one. Trowa had fallen asleep, and wouldn't wake up until the next morning. Heero stood up, and walked out of the room.

'Soldiers don't die because they're trained to, they die so the ones they love won't have to.'

Owari.

Mel: *big grin* Hah! Some of you didn't believe I was capable of finishing a story! Well poo-on-you! ^______^

Tsuru: My god, I think she's flipped…

Daichi: I didn't think she could do it…

Tsuru: o.O

Daichi: O.o

Mel: Well, that was my conclusion to my amazing story with a crappy title, and more plot-twists than Tsuru has mood swings!

Tsuru: *glares at Mel* Watch it.

Mel: ^_^() Anyway, I'm still looking for a decent title for this thing. Now that you've reached it's end, maybe you can help me a little here. Also, let me know if there's anything you're confused on. I'm going to be editing my chapters and reposting them, so I'd like to know if I have any holes. *grins* A special thanks to Kattie, and Emily Hatou erm, gomen. I don't know how to spell your last name. ^_^() for encouraging me to write this last chapter.


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